OverDrive

52865_Heart of Islamjpg

T H EH E A R T

O F

I S L A MEnduring Values for Humanity

SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR

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An e-book excerpt from

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ii

Dedicated to the Sacred and EnduringPresence of Shaykh Ahmad ibn Mustaf a

al-Shadhilı al-lsquoAlawı

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Contents

PerfectBound e-book exclusive Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Preface vii

One One God Many Prophets 1The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Two The Spectrum of Islam 55Sunnism Shılsquoism and Sufism and Traditional Modernist and ldquoFundamentalistrdquo Interpretations of Islam Today

Three Divine and Human Laws 113

Four The Vision of Community and Society 157

Five Compassion and Love Peace and Beauty 201

Six Divine and Human Justice 237Peace and the Question of War

Seven Human Responsibilities and Human Rights 273

Epilogue The Ethical and Spiritual Natureof Human Life East and West 307

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page v

E-book Afterward Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Notes

Bibliography

About the Author

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Cover

Map

Copyright

About the Publisher

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vi

337

335

Preface

The past few decades have witnessed a growing interest inIslam in the West increasing with each global event involv-ing the name of Islam from the Lebanese civil war to theIranian Revolution of 1979 to the rise of Islamic move-ments among Palestinians This rising interest now standsat unprecedented levels since the tragic events of Septem-ber 11 2001 The world is thirsty for information aboutIslam especially in America yet this thirst has generally notbeen quenched with healthy water In fact a torrent ofldquoknowledgerdquo has flooded the media from books to jour-nals radio and television much of which is based on igno-rance misinformation and even disinformation Not onlyhas this torrent failed the cause of understanding it has toofrequently rendered the greatest disservice to the Westernpublic in order to further particular ideological and politicalgoals

Of course distortion of matters Islamic in the West isnot new it has a thousand-year-old history going back to

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vii

monstrous biographies of the Prophet of Islam writtenmostly in Latin in France and Germany in the tenth andeleventh centuries This earlier portrayal of Islam as a Chris-tian heresy however still showed an intellectual respect forIslamic civilization and thought During the Renaissancesuch figures as Petrarch abandoned even this respect infavor of outright disdain During the eighteenth and nine-teenth centuries certain figures such as Voltaire tried to useaspects of Islam to attack Christianity while a number ofexceptional figures like Goethe and Emerson held Islamicteachings in great love and esteem Meanwhile the newmethods of rationalist historicist and skeptical scholarshipabout religion growing out of the so-called Age of Enlight-enment (which was in reality an age of the darkening of thesoul and eclipse of the intellect) began to apply their meth-ods to the study of Islam in the name of orientalism Evenwhen they were not serving colonial powers most of theseorientalists studied Islam in the arrogant belief that theypossessed a flawless scientific method that applied univer-sally to all religions The last thing such scholars caredabout was what Muslims or for that matter Hindus orBuddhists thought about their own religion and how theyexperienced their own religious universe Of course therewere exceptions but these only proved the rule Oriental-ist studies of Islam began and ended with the unspokenpresumption that Islam was not a revelation but a phe-nomenon contrived merely by human agency in a particu-lar historical situation In this chorus the voices of LouisMassignon H A R Gibb and Henry Corbin followed bya later generation of sympathetic Western scholars such asAnnemarie Schimmel remain truly exceptional

It was not until the second half of the twentieth centurythat born Muslims well versed in Western languages and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mviii

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page viii

methods of research and expression began to write in-depthworks on Islam in European languages to explain the tradi-tion in a serious way to the Western audience They werejoined in this task by a number of Western intellectual andspiritual figures and scholars who had been able to pene-trate the Islamic universe of meaning and to speak and writefrom within the Islamic tradition As a result of the effortsof these two groups a number of authentic and profoundbooks on various aspects of Islam appeared in English andother European languages In contrast to earlier periodssuch works were at least available but their voices contin-ued to be drowned out by the cacophonies of those whorejected Islam from positions of either Christian or Jewishpolemicism or secular agnosticism In fact there is no reli-gion about which so much has been written in the West bythose opposed to it as Islam No such parallel can be foundfor Taoism Confucianism Hinduism or Buddhism

Since the September 11 tragedy with the rise of interestin Islamic matters the cacophony has become loudernecessitating an explanation of the authentic teachings ofIslam anew in light of the challenges of the present-day sit-uation This book is a humble effort toward achieving thisend It was commissioned by Harper San Francisco and hasbeen written with the express purpose of explaining certainbasic aspects of Islam and widely discussed issues in a man-ner acceptable to mainstream Islamic thought and compre-hensible to the general Western public It seeks to render aservice to all those Westerners genuinely interested inunderstanding authentic Islam and its relation to the Westrather than relying on the distorted images of Islam oftenpresented to them Needless to say in a single book of thissize it is not possible to deal with all the relevant issues butI have sought to deal at least with the most significant ones

Preface ix

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ix

in an effort to open a spiritual and intellectual space formutual understanding I also point to principles enablingMuslims and Westerners alike to live in peace and harmonywith each other and to join hands against all those fromboth sides who seek to fan the fire of hatred and to precip-itate clashes of civilizations and nations

I wish to thank Stephen Hanselman of Harper San Fran-cisco for his many suggestions for the book KatherineOrsquoBrien for helping to prepare the manuscript for publica-tion and Joseph Lumbard for proofreading the manu-script May this humble effort serve as a small step towardbringing about better understanding between people ofgood will in the West and in the Islamic world

Bethesda MarylandMarch 2002Dhursquol-h ijjah ah 1423

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mx

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page x

O n e

ONE GOD MANY PROPHETS

The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Say He God is One God the Self-Sufficient Besought of allHe begetteth not nor is begotten and none is like Him

Quran 112 v1ndash4 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

T H EH E A R T

O F

I S L A MEnduring Values for Humanity

SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page i

An e-book excerpt from

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ii

Dedicated to the Sacred and EnduringPresence of Shaykh Ahmad ibn Mustaf a

al-Shadhilı al-lsquoAlawı

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page iii

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page iv

Contents

PerfectBound e-book exclusive Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Preface vii

One One God Many Prophets 1The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Two The Spectrum of Islam 55Sunnism Shılsquoism and Sufism and Traditional Modernist and ldquoFundamentalistrdquo Interpretations of Islam Today

Three Divine and Human Laws 113

Four The Vision of Community and Society 157

Five Compassion and Love Peace and Beauty 201

Six Divine and Human Justice 237Peace and the Question of War

Seven Human Responsibilities and Human Rights 273

Epilogue The Ethical and Spiritual Natureof Human Life East and West 307

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page v

E-book Afterward Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Notes

Bibliography

About the Author

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Cover

Map

Copyright

About the Publisher

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vi

337

335

Preface

The past few decades have witnessed a growing interest inIslam in the West increasing with each global event involv-ing the name of Islam from the Lebanese civil war to theIranian Revolution of 1979 to the rise of Islamic move-ments among Palestinians This rising interest now standsat unprecedented levels since the tragic events of Septem-ber 11 2001 The world is thirsty for information aboutIslam especially in America yet this thirst has generally notbeen quenched with healthy water In fact a torrent ofldquoknowledgerdquo has flooded the media from books to jour-nals radio and television much of which is based on igno-rance misinformation and even disinformation Not onlyhas this torrent failed the cause of understanding it has toofrequently rendered the greatest disservice to the Westernpublic in order to further particular ideological and politicalgoals

Of course distortion of matters Islamic in the West isnot new it has a thousand-year-old history going back to

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vii

monstrous biographies of the Prophet of Islam writtenmostly in Latin in France and Germany in the tenth andeleventh centuries This earlier portrayal of Islam as a Chris-tian heresy however still showed an intellectual respect forIslamic civilization and thought During the Renaissancesuch figures as Petrarch abandoned even this respect infavor of outright disdain During the eighteenth and nine-teenth centuries certain figures such as Voltaire tried to useaspects of Islam to attack Christianity while a number ofexceptional figures like Goethe and Emerson held Islamicteachings in great love and esteem Meanwhile the newmethods of rationalist historicist and skeptical scholarshipabout religion growing out of the so-called Age of Enlight-enment (which was in reality an age of the darkening of thesoul and eclipse of the intellect) began to apply their meth-ods to the study of Islam in the name of orientalism Evenwhen they were not serving colonial powers most of theseorientalists studied Islam in the arrogant belief that theypossessed a flawless scientific method that applied univer-sally to all religions The last thing such scholars caredabout was what Muslims or for that matter Hindus orBuddhists thought about their own religion and how theyexperienced their own religious universe Of course therewere exceptions but these only proved the rule Oriental-ist studies of Islam began and ended with the unspokenpresumption that Islam was not a revelation but a phe-nomenon contrived merely by human agency in a particu-lar historical situation In this chorus the voices of LouisMassignon H A R Gibb and Henry Corbin followed bya later generation of sympathetic Western scholars such asAnnemarie Schimmel remain truly exceptional

It was not until the second half of the twentieth centurythat born Muslims well versed in Western languages and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mviii

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page viii

methods of research and expression began to write in-depthworks on Islam in European languages to explain the tradi-tion in a serious way to the Western audience They werejoined in this task by a number of Western intellectual andspiritual figures and scholars who had been able to pene-trate the Islamic universe of meaning and to speak and writefrom within the Islamic tradition As a result of the effortsof these two groups a number of authentic and profoundbooks on various aspects of Islam appeared in English andother European languages In contrast to earlier periodssuch works were at least available but their voices contin-ued to be drowned out by the cacophonies of those whorejected Islam from positions of either Christian or Jewishpolemicism or secular agnosticism In fact there is no reli-gion about which so much has been written in the West bythose opposed to it as Islam No such parallel can be foundfor Taoism Confucianism Hinduism or Buddhism

Since the September 11 tragedy with the rise of interestin Islamic matters the cacophony has become loudernecessitating an explanation of the authentic teachings ofIslam anew in light of the challenges of the present-day sit-uation This book is a humble effort toward achieving thisend It was commissioned by Harper San Francisco and hasbeen written with the express purpose of explaining certainbasic aspects of Islam and widely discussed issues in a man-ner acceptable to mainstream Islamic thought and compre-hensible to the general Western public It seeks to render aservice to all those Westerners genuinely interested inunderstanding authentic Islam and its relation to the Westrather than relying on the distorted images of Islam oftenpresented to them Needless to say in a single book of thissize it is not possible to deal with all the relevant issues butI have sought to deal at least with the most significant ones

Preface ix

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ix

in an effort to open a spiritual and intellectual space formutual understanding I also point to principles enablingMuslims and Westerners alike to live in peace and harmonywith each other and to join hands against all those fromboth sides who seek to fan the fire of hatred and to precip-itate clashes of civilizations and nations

I wish to thank Stephen Hanselman of Harper San Fran-cisco for his many suggestions for the book KatherineOrsquoBrien for helping to prepare the manuscript for publica-tion and Joseph Lumbard for proofreading the manu-script May this humble effort serve as a small step towardbringing about better understanding between people ofgood will in the West and in the Islamic world

Bethesda MarylandMarch 2002Dhursquol-h ijjah ah 1423

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mx

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page x

O n e

ONE GOD MANY PROPHETS

The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Say He God is One God the Self-Sufficient Besought of allHe begetteth not nor is begotten and none is like Him

Quran 112 v1ndash4 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ii

Dedicated to the Sacred and EnduringPresence of Shaykh Ahmad ibn Mustaf a

al-Shadhilı al-lsquoAlawı

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page iii

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page iv

Contents

PerfectBound e-book exclusive Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Preface vii

One One God Many Prophets 1The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Two The Spectrum of Islam 55Sunnism Shılsquoism and Sufism and Traditional Modernist and ldquoFundamentalistrdquo Interpretations of Islam Today

Three Divine and Human Laws 113

Four The Vision of Community and Society 157

Five Compassion and Love Peace and Beauty 201

Six Divine and Human Justice 237Peace and the Question of War

Seven Human Responsibilities and Human Rights 273

Epilogue The Ethical and Spiritual Natureof Human Life East and West 307

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page v

E-book Afterward Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Notes

Bibliography

About the Author

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Cover

Map

Copyright

About the Publisher

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vi

337

335

Preface

The past few decades have witnessed a growing interest inIslam in the West increasing with each global event involv-ing the name of Islam from the Lebanese civil war to theIranian Revolution of 1979 to the rise of Islamic move-ments among Palestinians This rising interest now standsat unprecedented levels since the tragic events of Septem-ber 11 2001 The world is thirsty for information aboutIslam especially in America yet this thirst has generally notbeen quenched with healthy water In fact a torrent ofldquoknowledgerdquo has flooded the media from books to jour-nals radio and television much of which is based on igno-rance misinformation and even disinformation Not onlyhas this torrent failed the cause of understanding it has toofrequently rendered the greatest disservice to the Westernpublic in order to further particular ideological and politicalgoals

Of course distortion of matters Islamic in the West isnot new it has a thousand-year-old history going back to

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vii

monstrous biographies of the Prophet of Islam writtenmostly in Latin in France and Germany in the tenth andeleventh centuries This earlier portrayal of Islam as a Chris-tian heresy however still showed an intellectual respect forIslamic civilization and thought During the Renaissancesuch figures as Petrarch abandoned even this respect infavor of outright disdain During the eighteenth and nine-teenth centuries certain figures such as Voltaire tried to useaspects of Islam to attack Christianity while a number ofexceptional figures like Goethe and Emerson held Islamicteachings in great love and esteem Meanwhile the newmethods of rationalist historicist and skeptical scholarshipabout religion growing out of the so-called Age of Enlight-enment (which was in reality an age of the darkening of thesoul and eclipse of the intellect) began to apply their meth-ods to the study of Islam in the name of orientalism Evenwhen they were not serving colonial powers most of theseorientalists studied Islam in the arrogant belief that theypossessed a flawless scientific method that applied univer-sally to all religions The last thing such scholars caredabout was what Muslims or for that matter Hindus orBuddhists thought about their own religion and how theyexperienced their own religious universe Of course therewere exceptions but these only proved the rule Oriental-ist studies of Islam began and ended with the unspokenpresumption that Islam was not a revelation but a phe-nomenon contrived merely by human agency in a particu-lar historical situation In this chorus the voices of LouisMassignon H A R Gibb and Henry Corbin followed bya later generation of sympathetic Western scholars such asAnnemarie Schimmel remain truly exceptional

It was not until the second half of the twentieth centurythat born Muslims well versed in Western languages and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mviii

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page viii

methods of research and expression began to write in-depthworks on Islam in European languages to explain the tradi-tion in a serious way to the Western audience They werejoined in this task by a number of Western intellectual andspiritual figures and scholars who had been able to pene-trate the Islamic universe of meaning and to speak and writefrom within the Islamic tradition As a result of the effortsof these two groups a number of authentic and profoundbooks on various aspects of Islam appeared in English andother European languages In contrast to earlier periodssuch works were at least available but their voices contin-ued to be drowned out by the cacophonies of those whorejected Islam from positions of either Christian or Jewishpolemicism or secular agnosticism In fact there is no reli-gion about which so much has been written in the West bythose opposed to it as Islam No such parallel can be foundfor Taoism Confucianism Hinduism or Buddhism

Since the September 11 tragedy with the rise of interestin Islamic matters the cacophony has become loudernecessitating an explanation of the authentic teachings ofIslam anew in light of the challenges of the present-day sit-uation This book is a humble effort toward achieving thisend It was commissioned by Harper San Francisco and hasbeen written with the express purpose of explaining certainbasic aspects of Islam and widely discussed issues in a man-ner acceptable to mainstream Islamic thought and compre-hensible to the general Western public It seeks to render aservice to all those Westerners genuinely interested inunderstanding authentic Islam and its relation to the Westrather than relying on the distorted images of Islam oftenpresented to them Needless to say in a single book of thissize it is not possible to deal with all the relevant issues butI have sought to deal at least with the most significant ones

Preface ix

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ix

in an effort to open a spiritual and intellectual space formutual understanding I also point to principles enablingMuslims and Westerners alike to live in peace and harmonywith each other and to join hands against all those fromboth sides who seek to fan the fire of hatred and to precip-itate clashes of civilizations and nations

I wish to thank Stephen Hanselman of Harper San Fran-cisco for his many suggestions for the book KatherineOrsquoBrien for helping to prepare the manuscript for publica-tion and Joseph Lumbard for proofreading the manu-script May this humble effort serve as a small step towardbringing about better understanding between people ofgood will in the West and in the Islamic world

Bethesda MarylandMarch 2002Dhursquol-h ijjah ah 1423

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mx

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page x

O n e

ONE GOD MANY PROPHETS

The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Say He God is One God the Self-Sufficient Besought of allHe begetteth not nor is begotten and none is like Him

Quran 112 v1ndash4 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Dedicated to the Sacred and EnduringPresence of Shaykh Ahmad ibn Mustaf a

al-Shadhilı al-lsquoAlawı

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page iii

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page iv

Contents

PerfectBound e-book exclusive Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Preface vii

One One God Many Prophets 1The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Two The Spectrum of Islam 55Sunnism Shılsquoism and Sufism and Traditional Modernist and ldquoFundamentalistrdquo Interpretations of Islam Today

Three Divine and Human Laws 113

Four The Vision of Community and Society 157

Five Compassion and Love Peace and Beauty 201

Six Divine and Human Justice 237Peace and the Question of War

Seven Human Responsibilities and Human Rights 273

Epilogue The Ethical and Spiritual Natureof Human Life East and West 307

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page v

E-book Afterward Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Notes

Bibliography

About the Author

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Cover

Map

Copyright

About the Publisher

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vi

337

335

Preface

The past few decades have witnessed a growing interest inIslam in the West increasing with each global event involv-ing the name of Islam from the Lebanese civil war to theIranian Revolution of 1979 to the rise of Islamic move-ments among Palestinians This rising interest now standsat unprecedented levels since the tragic events of Septem-ber 11 2001 The world is thirsty for information aboutIslam especially in America yet this thirst has generally notbeen quenched with healthy water In fact a torrent ofldquoknowledgerdquo has flooded the media from books to jour-nals radio and television much of which is based on igno-rance misinformation and even disinformation Not onlyhas this torrent failed the cause of understanding it has toofrequently rendered the greatest disservice to the Westernpublic in order to further particular ideological and politicalgoals

Of course distortion of matters Islamic in the West isnot new it has a thousand-year-old history going back to

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vii

monstrous biographies of the Prophet of Islam writtenmostly in Latin in France and Germany in the tenth andeleventh centuries This earlier portrayal of Islam as a Chris-tian heresy however still showed an intellectual respect forIslamic civilization and thought During the Renaissancesuch figures as Petrarch abandoned even this respect infavor of outright disdain During the eighteenth and nine-teenth centuries certain figures such as Voltaire tried to useaspects of Islam to attack Christianity while a number ofexceptional figures like Goethe and Emerson held Islamicteachings in great love and esteem Meanwhile the newmethods of rationalist historicist and skeptical scholarshipabout religion growing out of the so-called Age of Enlight-enment (which was in reality an age of the darkening of thesoul and eclipse of the intellect) began to apply their meth-ods to the study of Islam in the name of orientalism Evenwhen they were not serving colonial powers most of theseorientalists studied Islam in the arrogant belief that theypossessed a flawless scientific method that applied univer-sally to all religions The last thing such scholars caredabout was what Muslims or for that matter Hindus orBuddhists thought about their own religion and how theyexperienced their own religious universe Of course therewere exceptions but these only proved the rule Oriental-ist studies of Islam began and ended with the unspokenpresumption that Islam was not a revelation but a phe-nomenon contrived merely by human agency in a particu-lar historical situation In this chorus the voices of LouisMassignon H A R Gibb and Henry Corbin followed bya later generation of sympathetic Western scholars such asAnnemarie Schimmel remain truly exceptional

It was not until the second half of the twentieth centurythat born Muslims well versed in Western languages and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mviii

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page viii

methods of research and expression began to write in-depthworks on Islam in European languages to explain the tradi-tion in a serious way to the Western audience They werejoined in this task by a number of Western intellectual andspiritual figures and scholars who had been able to pene-trate the Islamic universe of meaning and to speak and writefrom within the Islamic tradition As a result of the effortsof these two groups a number of authentic and profoundbooks on various aspects of Islam appeared in English andother European languages In contrast to earlier periodssuch works were at least available but their voices contin-ued to be drowned out by the cacophonies of those whorejected Islam from positions of either Christian or Jewishpolemicism or secular agnosticism In fact there is no reli-gion about which so much has been written in the West bythose opposed to it as Islam No such parallel can be foundfor Taoism Confucianism Hinduism or Buddhism

Since the September 11 tragedy with the rise of interestin Islamic matters the cacophony has become loudernecessitating an explanation of the authentic teachings ofIslam anew in light of the challenges of the present-day sit-uation This book is a humble effort toward achieving thisend It was commissioned by Harper San Francisco and hasbeen written with the express purpose of explaining certainbasic aspects of Islam and widely discussed issues in a man-ner acceptable to mainstream Islamic thought and compre-hensible to the general Western public It seeks to render aservice to all those Westerners genuinely interested inunderstanding authentic Islam and its relation to the Westrather than relying on the distorted images of Islam oftenpresented to them Needless to say in a single book of thissize it is not possible to deal with all the relevant issues butI have sought to deal at least with the most significant ones

Preface ix

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ix

in an effort to open a spiritual and intellectual space formutual understanding I also point to principles enablingMuslims and Westerners alike to live in peace and harmonywith each other and to join hands against all those fromboth sides who seek to fan the fire of hatred and to precip-itate clashes of civilizations and nations

I wish to thank Stephen Hanselman of Harper San Fran-cisco for his many suggestions for the book KatherineOrsquoBrien for helping to prepare the manuscript for publica-tion and Joseph Lumbard for proofreading the manu-script May this humble effort serve as a small step towardbringing about better understanding between people ofgood will in the West and in the Islamic world

Bethesda MarylandMarch 2002Dhursquol-h ijjah ah 1423

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mx

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page x

O n e

ONE GOD MANY PROPHETS

The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Say He God is One God the Self-Sufficient Besought of allHe begetteth not nor is begotten and none is like Him

Quran 112 v1ndash4 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page iv

Contents

PerfectBound e-book exclusive Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Preface vii

One One God Many Prophets 1The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Two The Spectrum of Islam 55Sunnism Shılsquoism and Sufism and Traditional Modernist and ldquoFundamentalistrdquo Interpretations of Islam Today

Three Divine and Human Laws 113

Four The Vision of Community and Society 157

Five Compassion and Love Peace and Beauty 201

Six Divine and Human Justice 237Peace and the Question of War

Seven Human Responsibilities and Human Rights 273

Epilogue The Ethical and Spiritual Natureof Human Life East and West 307

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page v

E-book Afterward Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Notes

Bibliography

About the Author

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Cover

Map

Copyright

About the Publisher

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vi

337

335

Preface

The past few decades have witnessed a growing interest inIslam in the West increasing with each global event involv-ing the name of Islam from the Lebanese civil war to theIranian Revolution of 1979 to the rise of Islamic move-ments among Palestinians This rising interest now standsat unprecedented levels since the tragic events of Septem-ber 11 2001 The world is thirsty for information aboutIslam especially in America yet this thirst has generally notbeen quenched with healthy water In fact a torrent ofldquoknowledgerdquo has flooded the media from books to jour-nals radio and television much of which is based on igno-rance misinformation and even disinformation Not onlyhas this torrent failed the cause of understanding it has toofrequently rendered the greatest disservice to the Westernpublic in order to further particular ideological and politicalgoals

Of course distortion of matters Islamic in the West isnot new it has a thousand-year-old history going back to

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vii

monstrous biographies of the Prophet of Islam writtenmostly in Latin in France and Germany in the tenth andeleventh centuries This earlier portrayal of Islam as a Chris-tian heresy however still showed an intellectual respect forIslamic civilization and thought During the Renaissancesuch figures as Petrarch abandoned even this respect infavor of outright disdain During the eighteenth and nine-teenth centuries certain figures such as Voltaire tried to useaspects of Islam to attack Christianity while a number ofexceptional figures like Goethe and Emerson held Islamicteachings in great love and esteem Meanwhile the newmethods of rationalist historicist and skeptical scholarshipabout religion growing out of the so-called Age of Enlight-enment (which was in reality an age of the darkening of thesoul and eclipse of the intellect) began to apply their meth-ods to the study of Islam in the name of orientalism Evenwhen they were not serving colonial powers most of theseorientalists studied Islam in the arrogant belief that theypossessed a flawless scientific method that applied univer-sally to all religions The last thing such scholars caredabout was what Muslims or for that matter Hindus orBuddhists thought about their own religion and how theyexperienced their own religious universe Of course therewere exceptions but these only proved the rule Oriental-ist studies of Islam began and ended with the unspokenpresumption that Islam was not a revelation but a phe-nomenon contrived merely by human agency in a particu-lar historical situation In this chorus the voices of LouisMassignon H A R Gibb and Henry Corbin followed bya later generation of sympathetic Western scholars such asAnnemarie Schimmel remain truly exceptional

It was not until the second half of the twentieth centurythat born Muslims well versed in Western languages and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mviii

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page viii

methods of research and expression began to write in-depthworks on Islam in European languages to explain the tradi-tion in a serious way to the Western audience They werejoined in this task by a number of Western intellectual andspiritual figures and scholars who had been able to pene-trate the Islamic universe of meaning and to speak and writefrom within the Islamic tradition As a result of the effortsof these two groups a number of authentic and profoundbooks on various aspects of Islam appeared in English andother European languages In contrast to earlier periodssuch works were at least available but their voices contin-ued to be drowned out by the cacophonies of those whorejected Islam from positions of either Christian or Jewishpolemicism or secular agnosticism In fact there is no reli-gion about which so much has been written in the West bythose opposed to it as Islam No such parallel can be foundfor Taoism Confucianism Hinduism or Buddhism

Since the September 11 tragedy with the rise of interestin Islamic matters the cacophony has become loudernecessitating an explanation of the authentic teachings ofIslam anew in light of the challenges of the present-day sit-uation This book is a humble effort toward achieving thisend It was commissioned by Harper San Francisco and hasbeen written with the express purpose of explaining certainbasic aspects of Islam and widely discussed issues in a man-ner acceptable to mainstream Islamic thought and compre-hensible to the general Western public It seeks to render aservice to all those Westerners genuinely interested inunderstanding authentic Islam and its relation to the Westrather than relying on the distorted images of Islam oftenpresented to them Needless to say in a single book of thissize it is not possible to deal with all the relevant issues butI have sought to deal at least with the most significant ones

Preface ix

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ix

in an effort to open a spiritual and intellectual space formutual understanding I also point to principles enablingMuslims and Westerners alike to live in peace and harmonywith each other and to join hands against all those fromboth sides who seek to fan the fire of hatred and to precip-itate clashes of civilizations and nations

I wish to thank Stephen Hanselman of Harper San Fran-cisco for his many suggestions for the book KatherineOrsquoBrien for helping to prepare the manuscript for publica-tion and Joseph Lumbard for proofreading the manu-script May this humble effort serve as a small step towardbringing about better understanding between people ofgood will in the West and in the Islamic world

Bethesda MarylandMarch 2002Dhursquol-h ijjah ah 1423

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mx

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page x

O n e

ONE GOD MANY PROPHETS

The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Say He God is One God the Self-Sufficient Besought of allHe begetteth not nor is begotten and none is like Him

Quran 112 v1ndash4 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

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Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Contents

PerfectBound e-book exclusive Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Preface vii

One One God Many Prophets 1The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Two The Spectrum of Islam 55Sunnism Shılsquoism and Sufism and Traditional Modernist and ldquoFundamentalistrdquo Interpretations of Islam Today

Three Divine and Human Laws 113

Four The Vision of Community and Society 157

Five Compassion and Love Peace and Beauty 201

Six Divine and Human Justice 237Peace and the Question of War

Seven Human Responsibilities and Human Rights 273

Epilogue The Ethical and Spiritual Natureof Human Life East and West 307

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page v

E-book Afterward Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Notes

Bibliography

About the Author

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Cover

Map

Copyright

About the Publisher

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vi

337

335

Preface

The past few decades have witnessed a growing interest inIslam in the West increasing with each global event involv-ing the name of Islam from the Lebanese civil war to theIranian Revolution of 1979 to the rise of Islamic move-ments among Palestinians This rising interest now standsat unprecedented levels since the tragic events of Septem-ber 11 2001 The world is thirsty for information aboutIslam especially in America yet this thirst has generally notbeen quenched with healthy water In fact a torrent ofldquoknowledgerdquo has flooded the media from books to jour-nals radio and television much of which is based on igno-rance misinformation and even disinformation Not onlyhas this torrent failed the cause of understanding it has toofrequently rendered the greatest disservice to the Westernpublic in order to further particular ideological and politicalgoals

Of course distortion of matters Islamic in the West isnot new it has a thousand-year-old history going back to

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vii

monstrous biographies of the Prophet of Islam writtenmostly in Latin in France and Germany in the tenth andeleventh centuries This earlier portrayal of Islam as a Chris-tian heresy however still showed an intellectual respect forIslamic civilization and thought During the Renaissancesuch figures as Petrarch abandoned even this respect infavor of outright disdain During the eighteenth and nine-teenth centuries certain figures such as Voltaire tried to useaspects of Islam to attack Christianity while a number ofexceptional figures like Goethe and Emerson held Islamicteachings in great love and esteem Meanwhile the newmethods of rationalist historicist and skeptical scholarshipabout religion growing out of the so-called Age of Enlight-enment (which was in reality an age of the darkening of thesoul and eclipse of the intellect) began to apply their meth-ods to the study of Islam in the name of orientalism Evenwhen they were not serving colonial powers most of theseorientalists studied Islam in the arrogant belief that theypossessed a flawless scientific method that applied univer-sally to all religions The last thing such scholars caredabout was what Muslims or for that matter Hindus orBuddhists thought about their own religion and how theyexperienced their own religious universe Of course therewere exceptions but these only proved the rule Oriental-ist studies of Islam began and ended with the unspokenpresumption that Islam was not a revelation but a phe-nomenon contrived merely by human agency in a particu-lar historical situation In this chorus the voices of LouisMassignon H A R Gibb and Henry Corbin followed bya later generation of sympathetic Western scholars such asAnnemarie Schimmel remain truly exceptional

It was not until the second half of the twentieth centurythat born Muslims well versed in Western languages and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mviii

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page viii

methods of research and expression began to write in-depthworks on Islam in European languages to explain the tradi-tion in a serious way to the Western audience They werejoined in this task by a number of Western intellectual andspiritual figures and scholars who had been able to pene-trate the Islamic universe of meaning and to speak and writefrom within the Islamic tradition As a result of the effortsof these two groups a number of authentic and profoundbooks on various aspects of Islam appeared in English andother European languages In contrast to earlier periodssuch works were at least available but their voices contin-ued to be drowned out by the cacophonies of those whorejected Islam from positions of either Christian or Jewishpolemicism or secular agnosticism In fact there is no reli-gion about which so much has been written in the West bythose opposed to it as Islam No such parallel can be foundfor Taoism Confucianism Hinduism or Buddhism

Since the September 11 tragedy with the rise of interestin Islamic matters the cacophony has become loudernecessitating an explanation of the authentic teachings ofIslam anew in light of the challenges of the present-day sit-uation This book is a humble effort toward achieving thisend It was commissioned by Harper San Francisco and hasbeen written with the express purpose of explaining certainbasic aspects of Islam and widely discussed issues in a man-ner acceptable to mainstream Islamic thought and compre-hensible to the general Western public It seeks to render aservice to all those Westerners genuinely interested inunderstanding authentic Islam and its relation to the Westrather than relying on the distorted images of Islam oftenpresented to them Needless to say in a single book of thissize it is not possible to deal with all the relevant issues butI have sought to deal at least with the most significant ones

Preface ix

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ix

in an effort to open a spiritual and intellectual space formutual understanding I also point to principles enablingMuslims and Westerners alike to live in peace and harmonywith each other and to join hands against all those fromboth sides who seek to fan the fire of hatred and to precip-itate clashes of civilizations and nations

I wish to thank Stephen Hanselman of Harper San Fran-cisco for his many suggestions for the book KatherineOrsquoBrien for helping to prepare the manuscript for publica-tion and Joseph Lumbard for proofreading the manu-script May this humble effort serve as a small step towardbringing about better understanding between people ofgood will in the West and in the Islamic world

Bethesda MarylandMarch 2002Dhursquol-h ijjah ah 1423

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mx

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page x

O n e

ONE GOD MANY PROPHETS

The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Say He God is One God the Self-Sufficient Besought of allHe begetteth not nor is begotten and none is like Him

Quran 112 v1ndash4 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

E-book Afterward Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Notes

Bibliography

About the Author

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Cover

Map

Copyright

About the Publisher

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vi

337

335

Preface

The past few decades have witnessed a growing interest inIslam in the West increasing with each global event involv-ing the name of Islam from the Lebanese civil war to theIranian Revolution of 1979 to the rise of Islamic move-ments among Palestinians This rising interest now standsat unprecedented levels since the tragic events of Septem-ber 11 2001 The world is thirsty for information aboutIslam especially in America yet this thirst has generally notbeen quenched with healthy water In fact a torrent ofldquoknowledgerdquo has flooded the media from books to jour-nals radio and television much of which is based on igno-rance misinformation and even disinformation Not onlyhas this torrent failed the cause of understanding it has toofrequently rendered the greatest disservice to the Westernpublic in order to further particular ideological and politicalgoals

Of course distortion of matters Islamic in the West isnot new it has a thousand-year-old history going back to

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vii

monstrous biographies of the Prophet of Islam writtenmostly in Latin in France and Germany in the tenth andeleventh centuries This earlier portrayal of Islam as a Chris-tian heresy however still showed an intellectual respect forIslamic civilization and thought During the Renaissancesuch figures as Petrarch abandoned even this respect infavor of outright disdain During the eighteenth and nine-teenth centuries certain figures such as Voltaire tried to useaspects of Islam to attack Christianity while a number ofexceptional figures like Goethe and Emerson held Islamicteachings in great love and esteem Meanwhile the newmethods of rationalist historicist and skeptical scholarshipabout religion growing out of the so-called Age of Enlight-enment (which was in reality an age of the darkening of thesoul and eclipse of the intellect) began to apply their meth-ods to the study of Islam in the name of orientalism Evenwhen they were not serving colonial powers most of theseorientalists studied Islam in the arrogant belief that theypossessed a flawless scientific method that applied univer-sally to all religions The last thing such scholars caredabout was what Muslims or for that matter Hindus orBuddhists thought about their own religion and how theyexperienced their own religious universe Of course therewere exceptions but these only proved the rule Oriental-ist studies of Islam began and ended with the unspokenpresumption that Islam was not a revelation but a phe-nomenon contrived merely by human agency in a particu-lar historical situation In this chorus the voices of LouisMassignon H A R Gibb and Henry Corbin followed bya later generation of sympathetic Western scholars such asAnnemarie Schimmel remain truly exceptional

It was not until the second half of the twentieth centurythat born Muslims well versed in Western languages and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mviii

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page viii

methods of research and expression began to write in-depthworks on Islam in European languages to explain the tradi-tion in a serious way to the Western audience They werejoined in this task by a number of Western intellectual andspiritual figures and scholars who had been able to pene-trate the Islamic universe of meaning and to speak and writefrom within the Islamic tradition As a result of the effortsof these two groups a number of authentic and profoundbooks on various aspects of Islam appeared in English andother European languages In contrast to earlier periodssuch works were at least available but their voices contin-ued to be drowned out by the cacophonies of those whorejected Islam from positions of either Christian or Jewishpolemicism or secular agnosticism In fact there is no reli-gion about which so much has been written in the West bythose opposed to it as Islam No such parallel can be foundfor Taoism Confucianism Hinduism or Buddhism

Since the September 11 tragedy with the rise of interestin Islamic matters the cacophony has become loudernecessitating an explanation of the authentic teachings ofIslam anew in light of the challenges of the present-day sit-uation This book is a humble effort toward achieving thisend It was commissioned by Harper San Francisco and hasbeen written with the express purpose of explaining certainbasic aspects of Islam and widely discussed issues in a man-ner acceptable to mainstream Islamic thought and compre-hensible to the general Western public It seeks to render aservice to all those Westerners genuinely interested inunderstanding authentic Islam and its relation to the Westrather than relying on the distorted images of Islam oftenpresented to them Needless to say in a single book of thissize it is not possible to deal with all the relevant issues butI have sought to deal at least with the most significant ones

Preface ix

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ix

in an effort to open a spiritual and intellectual space formutual understanding I also point to principles enablingMuslims and Westerners alike to live in peace and harmonywith each other and to join hands against all those fromboth sides who seek to fan the fire of hatred and to precip-itate clashes of civilizations and nations

I wish to thank Stephen Hanselman of Harper San Fran-cisco for his many suggestions for the book KatherineOrsquoBrien for helping to prepare the manuscript for publica-tion and Joseph Lumbard for proofreading the manu-script May this humble effort serve as a small step towardbringing about better understanding between people ofgood will in the West and in the Islamic world

Bethesda MarylandMarch 2002Dhursquol-h ijjah ah 1423

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mx

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page x

O n e

ONE GOD MANY PROPHETS

The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Say He God is One God the Self-Sufficient Besought of allHe begetteth not nor is begotten and none is like Him

Quran 112 v1ndash4 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Preface

The past few decades have witnessed a growing interest inIslam in the West increasing with each global event involv-ing the name of Islam from the Lebanese civil war to theIranian Revolution of 1979 to the rise of Islamic move-ments among Palestinians This rising interest now standsat unprecedented levels since the tragic events of Septem-ber 11 2001 The world is thirsty for information aboutIslam especially in America yet this thirst has generally notbeen quenched with healthy water In fact a torrent ofldquoknowledgerdquo has flooded the media from books to jour-nals radio and television much of which is based on igno-rance misinformation and even disinformation Not onlyhas this torrent failed the cause of understanding it has toofrequently rendered the greatest disservice to the Westernpublic in order to further particular ideological and politicalgoals

Of course distortion of matters Islamic in the West isnot new it has a thousand-year-old history going back to

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page vii

monstrous biographies of the Prophet of Islam writtenmostly in Latin in France and Germany in the tenth andeleventh centuries This earlier portrayal of Islam as a Chris-tian heresy however still showed an intellectual respect forIslamic civilization and thought During the Renaissancesuch figures as Petrarch abandoned even this respect infavor of outright disdain During the eighteenth and nine-teenth centuries certain figures such as Voltaire tried to useaspects of Islam to attack Christianity while a number ofexceptional figures like Goethe and Emerson held Islamicteachings in great love and esteem Meanwhile the newmethods of rationalist historicist and skeptical scholarshipabout religion growing out of the so-called Age of Enlight-enment (which was in reality an age of the darkening of thesoul and eclipse of the intellect) began to apply their meth-ods to the study of Islam in the name of orientalism Evenwhen they were not serving colonial powers most of theseorientalists studied Islam in the arrogant belief that theypossessed a flawless scientific method that applied univer-sally to all religions The last thing such scholars caredabout was what Muslims or for that matter Hindus orBuddhists thought about their own religion and how theyexperienced their own religious universe Of course therewere exceptions but these only proved the rule Oriental-ist studies of Islam began and ended with the unspokenpresumption that Islam was not a revelation but a phe-nomenon contrived merely by human agency in a particu-lar historical situation In this chorus the voices of LouisMassignon H A R Gibb and Henry Corbin followed bya later generation of sympathetic Western scholars such asAnnemarie Schimmel remain truly exceptional

It was not until the second half of the twentieth centurythat born Muslims well versed in Western languages and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mviii

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page viii

methods of research and expression began to write in-depthworks on Islam in European languages to explain the tradi-tion in a serious way to the Western audience They werejoined in this task by a number of Western intellectual andspiritual figures and scholars who had been able to pene-trate the Islamic universe of meaning and to speak and writefrom within the Islamic tradition As a result of the effortsof these two groups a number of authentic and profoundbooks on various aspects of Islam appeared in English andother European languages In contrast to earlier periodssuch works were at least available but their voices contin-ued to be drowned out by the cacophonies of those whorejected Islam from positions of either Christian or Jewishpolemicism or secular agnosticism In fact there is no reli-gion about which so much has been written in the West bythose opposed to it as Islam No such parallel can be foundfor Taoism Confucianism Hinduism or Buddhism

Since the September 11 tragedy with the rise of interestin Islamic matters the cacophony has become loudernecessitating an explanation of the authentic teachings ofIslam anew in light of the challenges of the present-day sit-uation This book is a humble effort toward achieving thisend It was commissioned by Harper San Francisco and hasbeen written with the express purpose of explaining certainbasic aspects of Islam and widely discussed issues in a man-ner acceptable to mainstream Islamic thought and compre-hensible to the general Western public It seeks to render aservice to all those Westerners genuinely interested inunderstanding authentic Islam and its relation to the Westrather than relying on the distorted images of Islam oftenpresented to them Needless to say in a single book of thissize it is not possible to deal with all the relevant issues butI have sought to deal at least with the most significant ones

Preface ix

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ix

in an effort to open a spiritual and intellectual space formutual understanding I also point to principles enablingMuslims and Westerners alike to live in peace and harmonywith each other and to join hands against all those fromboth sides who seek to fan the fire of hatred and to precip-itate clashes of civilizations and nations

I wish to thank Stephen Hanselman of Harper San Fran-cisco for his many suggestions for the book KatherineOrsquoBrien for helping to prepare the manuscript for publica-tion and Joseph Lumbard for proofreading the manu-script May this humble effort serve as a small step towardbringing about better understanding between people ofgood will in the West and in the Islamic world

Bethesda MarylandMarch 2002Dhursquol-h ijjah ah 1423

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mx

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page x

O n e

ONE GOD MANY PROPHETS

The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Say He God is One God the Self-Sufficient Besought of allHe begetteth not nor is begotten and none is like Him

Quran 112 v1ndash4 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

monstrous biographies of the Prophet of Islam writtenmostly in Latin in France and Germany in the tenth andeleventh centuries This earlier portrayal of Islam as a Chris-tian heresy however still showed an intellectual respect forIslamic civilization and thought During the Renaissancesuch figures as Petrarch abandoned even this respect infavor of outright disdain During the eighteenth and nine-teenth centuries certain figures such as Voltaire tried to useaspects of Islam to attack Christianity while a number ofexceptional figures like Goethe and Emerson held Islamicteachings in great love and esteem Meanwhile the newmethods of rationalist historicist and skeptical scholarshipabout religion growing out of the so-called Age of Enlight-enment (which was in reality an age of the darkening of thesoul and eclipse of the intellect) began to apply their meth-ods to the study of Islam in the name of orientalism Evenwhen they were not serving colonial powers most of theseorientalists studied Islam in the arrogant belief that theypossessed a flawless scientific method that applied univer-sally to all religions The last thing such scholars caredabout was what Muslims or for that matter Hindus orBuddhists thought about their own religion and how theyexperienced their own religious universe Of course therewere exceptions but these only proved the rule Oriental-ist studies of Islam began and ended with the unspokenpresumption that Islam was not a revelation but a phe-nomenon contrived merely by human agency in a particu-lar historical situation In this chorus the voices of LouisMassignon H A R Gibb and Henry Corbin followed bya later generation of sympathetic Western scholars such asAnnemarie Schimmel remain truly exceptional

It was not until the second half of the twentieth centurythat born Muslims well versed in Western languages and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mviii

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page viii

methods of research and expression began to write in-depthworks on Islam in European languages to explain the tradi-tion in a serious way to the Western audience They werejoined in this task by a number of Western intellectual andspiritual figures and scholars who had been able to pene-trate the Islamic universe of meaning and to speak and writefrom within the Islamic tradition As a result of the effortsof these two groups a number of authentic and profoundbooks on various aspects of Islam appeared in English andother European languages In contrast to earlier periodssuch works were at least available but their voices contin-ued to be drowned out by the cacophonies of those whorejected Islam from positions of either Christian or Jewishpolemicism or secular agnosticism In fact there is no reli-gion about which so much has been written in the West bythose opposed to it as Islam No such parallel can be foundfor Taoism Confucianism Hinduism or Buddhism

Since the September 11 tragedy with the rise of interestin Islamic matters the cacophony has become loudernecessitating an explanation of the authentic teachings ofIslam anew in light of the challenges of the present-day sit-uation This book is a humble effort toward achieving thisend It was commissioned by Harper San Francisco and hasbeen written with the express purpose of explaining certainbasic aspects of Islam and widely discussed issues in a man-ner acceptable to mainstream Islamic thought and compre-hensible to the general Western public It seeks to render aservice to all those Westerners genuinely interested inunderstanding authentic Islam and its relation to the Westrather than relying on the distorted images of Islam oftenpresented to them Needless to say in a single book of thissize it is not possible to deal with all the relevant issues butI have sought to deal at least with the most significant ones

Preface ix

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ix

in an effort to open a spiritual and intellectual space formutual understanding I also point to principles enablingMuslims and Westerners alike to live in peace and harmonywith each other and to join hands against all those fromboth sides who seek to fan the fire of hatred and to precip-itate clashes of civilizations and nations

I wish to thank Stephen Hanselman of Harper San Fran-cisco for his many suggestions for the book KatherineOrsquoBrien for helping to prepare the manuscript for publica-tion and Joseph Lumbard for proofreading the manu-script May this humble effort serve as a small step towardbringing about better understanding between people ofgood will in the West and in the Islamic world

Bethesda MarylandMarch 2002Dhursquol-h ijjah ah 1423

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mx

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page x

O n e

ONE GOD MANY PROPHETS

The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Say He God is One God the Self-Sufficient Besought of allHe begetteth not nor is begotten and none is like Him

Quran 112 v1ndash4 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

methods of research and expression began to write in-depthworks on Islam in European languages to explain the tradi-tion in a serious way to the Western audience They werejoined in this task by a number of Western intellectual andspiritual figures and scholars who had been able to pene-trate the Islamic universe of meaning and to speak and writefrom within the Islamic tradition As a result of the effortsof these two groups a number of authentic and profoundbooks on various aspects of Islam appeared in English andother European languages In contrast to earlier periodssuch works were at least available but their voices contin-ued to be drowned out by the cacophonies of those whorejected Islam from positions of either Christian or Jewishpolemicism or secular agnosticism In fact there is no reli-gion about which so much has been written in the West bythose opposed to it as Islam No such parallel can be foundfor Taoism Confucianism Hinduism or Buddhism

Since the September 11 tragedy with the rise of interestin Islamic matters the cacophony has become loudernecessitating an explanation of the authentic teachings ofIslam anew in light of the challenges of the present-day sit-uation This book is a humble effort toward achieving thisend It was commissioned by Harper San Francisco and hasbeen written with the express purpose of explaining certainbasic aspects of Islam and widely discussed issues in a man-ner acceptable to mainstream Islamic thought and compre-hensible to the general Western public It seeks to render aservice to all those Westerners genuinely interested inunderstanding authentic Islam and its relation to the Westrather than relying on the distorted images of Islam oftenpresented to them Needless to say in a single book of thissize it is not possible to deal with all the relevant issues butI have sought to deal at least with the most significant ones

Preface ix

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page ix

in an effort to open a spiritual and intellectual space formutual understanding I also point to principles enablingMuslims and Westerners alike to live in peace and harmonywith each other and to join hands against all those fromboth sides who seek to fan the fire of hatred and to precip-itate clashes of civilizations and nations

I wish to thank Stephen Hanselman of Harper San Fran-cisco for his many suggestions for the book KatherineOrsquoBrien for helping to prepare the manuscript for publica-tion and Joseph Lumbard for proofreading the manu-script May this humble effort serve as a small step towardbringing about better understanding between people ofgood will in the West and in the Islamic world

Bethesda MarylandMarch 2002Dhursquol-h ijjah ah 1423

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mx

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page x

O n e

ONE GOD MANY PROPHETS

The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Say He God is One God the Self-Sufficient Besought of allHe begetteth not nor is begotten and none is like Him

Quran 112 v1ndash4 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

in an effort to open a spiritual and intellectual space formutual understanding I also point to principles enablingMuslims and Westerners alike to live in peace and harmonywith each other and to join hands against all those fromboth sides who seek to fan the fire of hatred and to precip-itate clashes of civilizations and nations

I wish to thank Stephen Hanselman of Harper San Fran-cisco for his many suggestions for the book KatherineOrsquoBrien for helping to prepare the manuscript for publica-tion and Joseph Lumbard for proofreading the manu-script May this humble effort serve as a small step towardbringing about better understanding between people ofgood will in the West and in the Islamic world

Bethesda MarylandMarch 2002Dhursquol-h ijjah ah 1423

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A Mx

fm3qxd 81502 1140 AM Page x

O n e

ONE GOD MANY PROPHETS

The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Say He God is One God the Self-Sufficient Besought of allHe begetteth not nor is begotten and none is like Him

Quran 112 v1ndash4 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

O n e

ONE GOD MANY PROPHETS

The Unity of Truth and the Multiplicity of Revelations

Say He God is One God the Self-Sufficient Besought of allHe begetteth not nor is begotten and none is like Him

Quran 112 v1ndash4 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 1

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 2

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

GOD THE ONE

At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God the Onethe Absolute and the Infinite the Infinitely Good and All-Merciful the One Who is at once transcendent and imma-nent greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet asthe Quran the sacred scripture of Islam attests closer tous than our jugular vein The One God known by His Ara-bic Name Allah is the central reality of Islam in all ofits facets and attestation to this oneness which is calledtawh ıd is the axis around which all that is Islamic revolvesAllah is beyond all duality and relationality beyond the dif-ferences of gender and of all qualities that distinguishbeings from each other in this world Yet He is the sourceof all existence and all cosmic and human qualities as well asthe End to Whom all things return

To testify to this oneness lies at the heart of the credo ofIslam and the formula that expresses the truth of this one-ness La ilaha illarsquoLlah ldquoThere is no god but Godrdquo is thefirst of two testifications (shahadahs) by which a personbears witness to being a Muslim the second is Muh am-madun rasul Allah ldquoMuhammad is the messenger ofGodrdquo The oneness of God is for Muslims not only theheart of their religion but that of every authentic religionIt is a reassertion of the revelation of God to the Hebrewprophets and to Christ whom Muslims also consider to betheir prophets the revelation of the truth that ldquoThe Lord isonerdquo the reconfirmation of that timeless truth that is alsostated in the Catholic creed Credo in unum Deum ldquoI

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 3

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

believe in one Godrdquo As the Quran states ldquoWe have neversent a messenger before thee except that We revealed tohim saying lsquoThere is no god but I so worship Mersquordquo(2125) Like countless Muslims when I read the names ofthe prophets of old in the Quran or in the traditionalprayers I experience them as living realities in the Islamicuniverse while being fully conscious of the fact that theyare revered figures in Judaism and Christianity I alsoremain fully aware that they are all speaking of the sameGod Who is One and not of some other deity

The One God or Allah is neither male nor femaleHowever in the inner teachings of Islam His Essence isoften referred to in feminine form and the Divinity is oftenmentioned as the Beloved while the Face He has turned tothe world as Creator and Sustainer is addressed in the mas-culine form Both the male and the female are created byHim and the root of both femininity and masculinity are tobe found in the Divine Nature which transcends the dual-ity between them Furthermore the Qualities of Godwhich are reflected throughout creation are of a feminineas well as a masculine nature and the traditional Islamicunderstanding of the Divinity is not at all confined as somethink to a purely patriarchal image

The Quran which is the verbatim Word of God forMuslims to be compared to Christ himself in Christianityreveals not only the Supreme Name of God as Allah butalso mentions other ldquobeautiful Namesrdquo of God consideredby traditional sources to be ninety-nine in number Namesrevealing different aspects of the Divinity The Quranstates ldquoTo God belong the most beautiful Names (al-asmarsquo al-h usna) Call on Him therebyrdquo (7180) TheseNames are divided into those of Perfection (Kamal)Majesty (Jalal) and Beauty (Jamal) the first relating to the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M4

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 4

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

essential oneness of God Himself beyond all polarizationand the last two to the masculine and feminine dimensionsof reality in divinis (in the Divine Order) The Names ofMajesty include the Just the Majestic the Reckoner theGiver of Death the Victorious and the All-Powerful andthose of Beauty the All-Merciful the Forgiver the Gentlethe Generous the Beautiful and Love For Muslims thewhole universe consists of the reflection in various combi-nations of the Divine Names and human life is lived amidthe polarizations and tensions as well as harmony of thecosmic and human qualities derived from these NamesGod at once judges us according to His Justice and forgivesus according to His Mercy He is far beyond our reach yetresides at the center of the heart of the faithful He punishesthe wicked but also loves His creatures and forgives them

The doctrine of God the One as stated in the Qurandoes not only emphasize utter transcendence althoughthere are powerful expressions of this truth such as Allahuakbar usually translated as ldquoGod is greatrdquo but meaningthat God is greater than anything we can conceive of Himwhich is also attested by the apophatic theology of both theCatholic and Orthodox churches as well as by traditionalJudaism The Quran also accentuates Godrsquos nearness to usstating that He is closer to us than ourselves and that He ispresent everywhere as when it states ldquoWhithersoever yeturn there is the Face of Godrdquo (2115) The traditionalreligious life of a Muslim is based on a rhythmic movementbetween the poles of transcendence and immanence ofrigor and compassion of justice and forgiveness of the fearof punishment and hope for mercy based on Godrsquos love forus But the galaxy of Divine Names and the multiplicity ofDivine Qualities reflected in the cosmos and within thebeing of men and women do not distract the Muslim for

One God Many Prophets 5

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 5

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

one moment from the oneness of God from that Sunbefore whose light all multiplicity perishes Striving afterthe realization of that oneness or tawh ıd is the heart ofIslamic life and the measure of a successful religious life isthe degree to which one is able to realize tawh ıd whichmeans not only oneness but also the integration of multi-plicity into Unity

Moreover since there is no official sacerdotal authorityin Islam like the magisterium in Roman Catholic Christian-ity the authenticity of onersquos faith in Islam has by and largebeen determined by the testification of tawh ıd while thedegree of inward realization of this truth has remained amatter to be decided by God and not by external authori-ties This has been the general norm in Islamic history butthere have also been exceptions and there are historicalinstances when a particular group or political authority hastaken it upon itself to determine the authenticity or lackthereof of the belief in tawh ıd of a particular person orschool But there has never been an Inquisition in Islamand there has been greater latitude in the acceptance ofideas especially mystical and esoteric ones than in mostperiods of the history of Western Christianity before thepenetration of modernism into Christian theology itself

Now although Islam is based on the reality of God theOne in His Absoluteness and Suchness it also addresseshumanity in its essential reality in its suchness Man in thetraditional sense of the term corresponding to insan in Ara-bic or homo in Greek and not solely the male is seen inIslam not as a sinful being to whom the message of Heavenis sent to heal the wound of the original sin but as a beingwho still carries his primordial nature (al-fitrah) withinhimself although he has forgotten that nature now burieddeep under layers of negligence As the Quran states

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M6

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 6

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

ldquo[God] created man in the best of stature (ah san al-taqwım)rdquo (954) with an intelligence capable of knowingthe One The message of Islam is addressed to that primor-dial nature It is a call for recollection for the remem-brance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance ofour being even before our coming into this world In afamous verse that defines the relationship between humanbeings and God the Quran in referring to the precosmicexistence of man states ldquolsquoAm I not your Lordrsquo They saidlsquoYes we bear witnessrsquordquo (7172) The ldquotheyrdquo refers to all thechildren of Adam male and female and the ldquoyesrdquo confirmsthe affirmation of Godrsquos Oneness by us in our pre-eternalontological reality

Men and women still bear the echo of this ldquoyesrdquo deepdown within their souls and the call of Islam is precisely tothis primordial nature which uttered the ldquoyesrdquo even beforethe creation of the heavens and the earth The call of Islamtherefore concerns above all the remembrance of a knowl-edge deeply embedded in our being the confirmation of aknowledge that saves hence the soteriological function ofknowledge in Islam Islam addresses the human being notprimarily as will but as intelligence If the great sin inChristianity is disobedience which has warped the will thegreat sin in Islam is forgetfulness and the resulting inabilityof the intelligence to function in the way that God createdit as the means to know the One That is why the greatestsin in Islam and the only one God does not forgive is shirkor taking a partner unto God which means denying theOneness of God or tawh ıd

This direct address from God the One to each humanbeing in its primordial state requires total surrender to theMajesty of the Absolute before whom ultimately nothingcan in fact exist In an ordinary sense it means the surrender

One God Many Prophets 7

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 7

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

of ourselves to God and in the highest sense it means theawareness of our nothingness before Him for as the Quransays ldquoAll that dwells in the heavens and the earth perishesyet there abideth the Face of thy Lord Majestic Splendidrdquo(5526ndash27) The very name of the religion Islam comesfrom this reality for the Arabic word al-islam means ldquosur-renderrdquo as well as the peace that issues from our surrenderto God In fact Islam is the only major religion along withBuddhism (if we consider the name of the religion to comefrom Budd the Divine Intellect and not the Buddha)whose name is not related to a person or ethnic group butto the central idea of the religion Moreover Islam consid-ers all authentic religions to be based on this surrender sothat al-islam means not only the religion revealed throughthe Quran to the Prophet Muhammad but all authenticreligions as such That is why in the Quran the prophetAbraham is also called muslim that is one who is in thestate of al-islam

True surrender is not however only concerned with ourwill It must involve our whole being A shallow under-standing of surrender can lead to either a passive attitudein which one does not strive in life as one should accordingto the promulgations of the religion or to mistaking onersquosown imperfect understanding of Islam for the truth andperforming acts that are against Godrsquos teachings whileclaiming that one is acting in surrender to God Islam statesthat a person must be the perfect servant (lsquoabd) of God inthe sense of following His commands But since God hasgiven us many faculties including free will and intelligenceour surrender must be complete and total not limited toonly certain faculties It must involve the whole of our be-ing Otherwise hidden thoughts and emotions as well asfalse ideas can combine with a fallacious sense of external

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M8

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 8

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

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United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

surrender of onersquos will to God to produce acts in the nameof religion that can have calamitous consequences

Such acts have appeared from time to time historicallyand can be seen especially in this day and age but they aredeviations rather than the norm The norm by which thevast majority of Muslims have lived over the ages has meantsurrender to God with onersquos whole being following theDivine Law and the ethical teachings of Islam to the extentpossible striving in life according to religious teachings tothe extent of onersquos ability and then being resigned to con-sequences that ensue and accepting what destiny has putbefore us It is in this sense that the common Arabic sayingmaktub ldquoIt is writtenrdquo marking the sign of resignation toa particular event or results of onersquos actions must be un-derstood This surrender has certainly not meant eitherfatalism or an individualistic interpretation of Divine normsin the name of surrender It has on the contrary led to aninward and outward striving combined with serenity thatcharacterizes traditional patterns of Islamic life in contrastto both modernistic and much of the so-called fundamen-talist currents found in the Islamic world today

CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMAN BEINGS

Since the One God is Infinite and Absolute as well as theInfinitely Good He could not but create His infinitudeimplies that He contains within Himself all possibilitiesincluding that of negating Himself and this possibility hadto be realized in the form of creation Moreover as StAugustine also stated it is in the nature of the good to giveof itself and the Infinitely-Good could not but radiate thereality that constitutes the world and in fact all the worlds

One God Many Prophets 9

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 9

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

But creation or radiation implies separation and it is thisontological separation from the Source of all goodness thatconstitutes evil One might say that evil is nothing but sep-aration from the Good and privation although it is real onits own level in a sense as real as our own existential levelon which we find it 1 And yet the good belongs to the poleof being and evil to that of nonbeing

Throughout the history of Islam there have been nu-merous profound metaphysical and theological discussionsconcerning the question of evil as there have been in otherreligions especially Christianity But in contrast to themodern West in which many people have turned awayfrom God and religion because they could not understandhow a God who is good could create a world in whichthere is evil in the Islamic world this question of theodicyhas hardly ever bothered the religious conscience of eventhe most intelligent people or turned them away fromGod The emphasis of the Quran upon the reality of evilon the moral plane combined with the sapiential and theo-logical explanations of this question have kept men andwomen confronted with this problem in the domain offaith The strong emphasis in Islam on the Will of God hasalso played a role in resigning Muslims to the presence ofevil in the world (which they must nevertheless combat tothe extent possible) even when they cannot understandthe causes involved

In any case God has created the world in which there isimperfection and evil but the world itself is considered bythe Quran to be good a view corresponding to that foundin the book of Genesis And creation has a purpose for asthe Quran says ldquoO Lord Thou didst not create this [theworld] in vainrdquo (8190) The deepest purpose of creation isexplained by a famous h adıth qudsı (a sacred saying of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M10

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 10

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Prophet not part of the Quran in which God speaks in thefirst person through the mouth of the Prophet) ldquoI was ahidden treasure I loved to be known Therefore I createdthe creation so that I would be knownrdquo The purpose ofcreation therefore is Godrsquos love for the knowledge of Him-self realized through His central agent on earth humanityFor a human being to know God is to fulfill the purpose ofcreation Moreover God loved to be known Hence thelove of God and by God permeates the whole universe andmany Islamic mystics of Sufis over the ages have spoken ofthat love to which Dante refers at the end of the DivineComedy when he speaks of ldquothe love that moves the sunand the starsrdquo

This sacred h adıth (h adıth qudsı) also speaks of Godrsquosbeing ldquoa hidden treasurerdquo which is a symbol of the truththat everything in the universe has its origin in the DivineReality and is a manifestation of that Reality Everything inthe total cosmos both visible and invisible is a theophanyor manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities and isdrawn from the ldquotreasuryrdquo of God The Wisdom of Godthus permeates the universe and Muslims in fact see thecosmos as Godrsquos primordial revelation Everything in theuniverse in reflecting Godrsquos Wisdom also glorifies Himfor as the Quran says ldquoThere is nothing but that it hymnsHis praiserdquo (1744) In fact the very existence of beings isnothing but their invocation of Godrsquos Names and the uni-verse itself is nothing but the consequence of the breathingupon the archetypal realities of all beings in the DivineIntellect of the Breath of the Compassionate (nafas al-Rah man) It is through His Name al-Rah man whichmeans the Infinitely-Good and also Merciful that the uni-verse has come into being It is significant to note thatmuch of the Quran is devoted to the cosmos and the world

One God Many Prophets 11

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 11

of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

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of nature which play an integral role in the traditional lifeof Muslims All Islamic rites are harmonized with naturalphenomena and in general Muslims view the world ofcreation as Godrsquos first revelation before the Torah theGospels the Quran and other sacred scriptures wererevealed That is why in Islam as in medieval Judaism andChristianity the cosmos is seen as a book in which theldquosigns of Godrdquo the vestigia Dei of Christian authors are tobe read

The Islamic understanding of anthropogenesis the cre-ation of human beings resembles those of Judaism andChristianity in many ways but also differs on certain signif-icant issues In fact there are also important differencesbetween Judaism and Christianity when it comes to thequestion of original sin As for Adamrsquos original creationthe Quran speaks of God creating Adam from clay andbreathing His Spirit into him ldquoAnd I breathed into himMy Spiritrdquo (1529) The Quran continues

And when thy Lord said unto the angels ldquoVerily I amabout to place a vicegerent (khalıfah) on earthrdquo theysaid ldquoWilt Thou place therein one who will bring cor-ruption therein and will shed blood while we wehymn Thy praise and sanctify Theerdquo He said ldquoSurelyI know that which ye know notrdquo

And He taught Adam all the names then showedthem to the angels saying ldquoInform me of the namesof these if ye are truthfulrdquo

They said ldquoBe glorified We have no knowledgesave that which Thou hast taught usrdquo (230ndash32)2

The angels were then asked by God to prostrate beforeAdam and all did so except Iblıs that is the Devil or Satanwho refused because of pride God placed Adam and his

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M12

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 12

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

wife in paradise and permitted them to eat of the fruitsthere except the fruit of the forbidden tree But Satanldquocaused them to deflect therefromrdquo and the Fall ensuedBut a revelation was sent to Adam He repented and be-came the first prophet as well as the father of humanity

The Quranic account contains all the main features ofthe sacred anthropology of Islam and its view of the natureof men and women First of all God chose the human be-ing as His vicegerent (khalıfah) on earth which means thatHe has given human beings power to dominate the earthbut on the condition that they remain obedient to Godthat is being Godrsquos servant or lsquoabd Allah There are nu-merous Quranic references to this truth The two primaryfeatures of being human are servanthood and vicegerencybeing passive toward Heaven in submission to Godrsquos Willon the one hand and being active as Godrsquos agent anddoing His Will in the world on the other Moreover Adamwas taught all the names which means that God has placedwithin human nature an intelligence that is central and themeans by which he can know all things It also means thathuman beings themselves are the theophany or visiblemanifestation of all of Godrsquos Names There is in principleno limit to human intelligence in knowing the nature ofthings (the question of knowing the Divine Essence is a dif-ferent matter) unless there is an obstacle that prevents itfrom functioning correctly That is why Muslims believethat any normal and wholesome intelligence will be natu-rally led to the confirmation of Divine Oneness and are at aloss when rationalist skeptics from the West refuse to acceptthe One (most Muslims are unaware of the obstacles inthe soul of such a skeptic that reduce the intelligence toanalytical reason and prevent it from functioning in its full-ness) Adam the prototype of humanity is superior to theangels by virtue of his knowledge of the names of all things

One God Many Prophets 13

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 13

as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

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as well as by being the reflection of all the Divine Namesand Qualities

As for Iblıs his rebellion comes from pride in consider-ing his nature which was made of fire superior to that ofAdam who was made of clay He refused to prostrate him-self before Adam because fire is a more noble element thanearth or clay He could not see the effect of the Spirit thatGod had breathed into Adam Satan was therefore the firstto misuse analogy to try to replace intelligence with ordi-nary logical reasoning His fall was thus also connected tothe domain of knowledge The lack of total knowledge onhis part created the sense of pride which in Islam as inChristianity is the source of all other vices

The Quran mentions Adamrsquos wife but not her nameH adıth sources however confirm that her name wasH awwarsquo or Eve In fact the Islamic names for the first par-ents of humanity Adam and H awwarsquo are the same as inJudaism and Christianity The Quran however does notmention how she was created Some traditional commenta-tors have repeated the biblical account of her creation fromAdamrsquos rib while other authorities have mentioned that shewas created from the same clay from which God createdAdam It is important to note for the Islamic understandingof womanhood and womenrsquos roles in both religious andsocial life that in contrast to the biblical story Eve did nottempt Adam to eat the forbidden fruit Rather they weretempted together by Iblıs and therefore Eve was not thecause of Adamrsquos expulsion from paradise He was alsoresponsible they shared in performing the act that led totheir fall and therefore both men and women are facedequally with its consequences As far as the forbidden fruitis concerned again the Quran does not mention it explic-itly but according to traditional commentaries it was not anapple as believed by Christians and Jews but wheat

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M14

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 14

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

The creation of human beings complements the creationof the cosmos and adds to the created order a central beingwho is Godrsquos vicegerent capable of knowing all things ofdominating the earth given the power to do good but alsoto wreak havoc and in fact corrupt the earth According toa famous h adıth ldquoGod created man upon His formrdquoalthough here form does not mean physical image butrather the reflection of Godrsquos Names and Qualities Buthuman beings are also given the freedom to rebel againstGod and Iblıs can exercise power over them The humanbeing contains in fact all possibilities within himself orherself The soul itself is a vast field in which the signs ofGod are manifested As a Quranic verse states ldquoWe shallshow them our signs (ayat) upon the horizons and withintheir souls until it becomes manifest unto them that it is thetruthrdquo (4153) Therefore in a sense the human being isitself a revelation like the macrocosm

It might be said that from the Islamic point of view cre-ation and revelation are inseparable and that there are infact three grand revelations the cosmos the human stateand religionsmdashall three of which Islam sees as ldquobooksrdquoThere is first of all the cosmic book to be read and deci-phered Then there is the inner book of the soul which wecarry within ourselves And finally there are sacred scrip-tures which have been sent by God through His Mercy toguide humanity throughout the ages and which are thefoundations of various religions and keys for reading theother two books that of the cosmos and that of the soul

MANY REVELATIONS MANY PROPHETS

In the Islamic perspective the oneness of God has as itsconsequence not the uniqueness of prophecy but its multi-plicity since God as the Infinite created a world in which

One God Many Prophets 15

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 15

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

there is multiplicity and this includes of course the humanorder For Islam revelation and prophecy are both neces-sary and universal Humanity according to the Quran wascreated from a single soul but then diversified into racesand tribes for as the Quran states ldquoHe created you[humanity] from a single soulrdquo (396) The single origin ofhumanity implies the profound unity within diversity ofhuman nature and therefore religion based on the messageof Divine Oneness could not have been only meant for oravailable to a segment of humanity The multiplicity ofraces nations and tribes necessitates the diversity of revela-tions Therefore the Quran on the one hand asserts thatldquoTo every people [We have sent] a messengerrdquo (1048)and on the other hand ldquoFor each [people] We have ap-pointed a Divine Law and a way Had God willed Hecould have made you one community But that He may tryyou by that which He hath given you So vie with oneanother in good works Unto God ye will all return andHe will then inform you concerning that wherein ye dif-feredrdquo (548) According to these and other verses notonly is the multiplicity of religions necessary but it is also areflection of the richness of the Divine Nature and is willedby God

Religion (dın) revelation (wah y) and prophecy (nu-buwwah) have a clear meaning in the context of the Islamicworldview and therefore need to be carefully defined in themodern context where all of these terms have becomeambiguous in ordinary discourse The closest word to theEnglish term ldquoreligionrdquo in Arabic is dın which is said bymany to have been derived from the root meaning ldquotoobey submit and humble oneself before Godrdquo Al-dınmeans religion in the vastest sense as the sacred norm intowhich the whole of life is to be molded It is the total wayof life grounded in teachings that have issued from God

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M16

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 16

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

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United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

These teachings reach humanity through revelation whichmeans the direct conveying of a message from Heaven (rev-elation being understood apart from all the psychologicalentanglements it has acquired in much of modern Westernreligious thought) Revelation moreover must not be con-fused with inspiration (ilham) which is possible for allhuman beings

Islam sees revelation not as incarnation in the Hindu orChristian sense but as the descent of the Word of Godin the form of sacred scripture to a prophet In fact theQuran uses the term ldquoBookrdquo (kitab) not only for theQuran but also for all other sacred books and the totalityof revelations The Quran considers all revelations to becontained in that ldquoarchetypal bookrdquo or Umm al-kitab (lit-erally ldquothe Mother Bookrdquo) and the sacred scriptures to berelated in conveying the same basic message of the primor-dial religion of unity in different languages and contextsAs the Quran states ldquoWe never sent a messenger save withthe language of his peoplerdquo (144) Even when the Quranstates that ldquothe religion with God is al-islamrdquo (319) orsimilar statements al-islam refers to that universal surren-der to the One and that primordial religion contained inthe heart of all heavenly inspired religions not just to Islamin its more particular sense There is moreover a criterionof truth and falsehood as far as religions are concerned andthe Quranrsquos confirmation of the universality of revelationdoes not mean that everything that has passed as religionyesterday or does so today is authentic Throughout historythere have been false prophets and religions to whichChrist also referred as well as religions that have decayedor deviated from their original form

Islam sees itself as heir to this long chain of prophetsgoing back to Adam and believes all of them considered tobe 124000 according to tradition to be also its own It

One God Many Prophets 17

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 17

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

does not believe however that it has inherited their teach-ings through temporal and historical transmission for aprophet owes nothing to anyone and receives everythingfrom Heaven but it does believe that its message bears thefinality of a seal Islam sees itself as at once the primordialreligion a return to the original religion of oneness andthe final religion the Quran itself calls the Prophet of Islamthe ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo And in fact fourteen hundredyears of history have confirmed Islamrsquos claim for during allthat time there has not been another plenary manifestationof the Truth like the ones that brought about the births ofBuddhism and Christianity not to speak of the earliermajor religions The two characteristics of primordialityand finality have bestowed upon Islam its trait of universal-ity and the capability to absorb intellectually and culturallyso much that came before it It has also made spirituallyalive the prophetic presences that preceded it so that forexample such figures as Abraham Moses and Christ play amuch greater role in the spiritual universe of Islam thanAbraham and Moses do in the Christian universe

While speaking of the finality of the Islamic revelationfor this cycle of human history which will last until theeschatological events at the end of historic time somethingmust be said from the Islamic point of view about theldquoorderrdquo and ldquoeconomyrdquo of revelation Muslims believe thateach revelation takes place through the Divine Will butalso on the basis of a spiritual economy and is not by anymeans ad hoc Each revelation fulfills a major function inhuman history seen from the religious point of view Forexample around the sixth to fifth century BC which alsomarks the transition from mythological time to historictime a qualitative change took place in the march of timewhich for Islam as for Hinduism is not simply linear This

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M18

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 18

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

is the period when the myths of Homer and Hesiod recedeas Greek history flowers and the stories of mythical Persiandynasties are left behind as the Persian Empire takes shapeFrom the human point of view this qualitative change inthe terrestrial life of humanity required new dispensationsfrom Heaven and from the metaphysical perspective thesenew dispensations themselves marked the new chapter thatwas to begin in human history

This period which philosophers such as Karl Jaspershave called the Axial Age was witness to the appearance ofConfucius and Lao-Tze in China and the new crystalliza-tion of the primal Chinese tradition into Confucianism andTaoism and the appearance of Shintoism in Japan and thebeginning of the terrestrial life of the solar emperors whomarked the beginning of historical Japanese civilizationThis age was also witness to the life of the Buddha whoseteaching spread throughout India and Tibet and soontransformed the religious life of East and Southeast Asia Atnearly the same time we see the rise of Zoroaster whoestablished Zoroastrianism in Persia and whose teachingsgreatly influenced later religious life in western Asia Finallyaround the same time we have the rise of Pythagoras andPythagoreanism which was central to the spiritual life ofancient Greece and from which Platonism was born Thisremarkable cluster of figures which also includes some ofthe Hebrew prophets figures whom Muslims would callprophets transformed the religious life of humanity al-though the still living and viable religions of the earlierperiod such as Judaism and Hinduism survived Moreoverthis list of figures does not exhaust all the notable sages andprophets of the Axial Age

One would think that the cycle of revelation would havebeen terminated in the Axial Age But the decadence of the

One God Many Prophets 19

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 19

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Greek and Roman religions around the MediterraneanBasin and the weakening of the northern European reli-gions created a vacuum that only a new revelation couldfill Therefore Christianity was revealed by God Althoughoriginally a Semitic religion providentially it soon becameto some extent Hellenized and Christ was transformedalmost into an ldquoAryanrdquo solar hero for the Europeans whowere destined to find the path of salvation through this newdispensation from Heaven It certainly was no accident thatin Europe Christianity remained strong and unified whilein the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa destined tobecome part of the future ldquoAbode of Islamrdquo it splinteredinto numerous small denominations fighting among them-selves as well as against Byzantium

This latter situation added to the inner weakness ofZoroastrianism in the Persian Empire and certain other re-ligions elsewhere created another vacuum to be filled thistime by a new Semitic religionmdashIslam Islam like Judaismremained faithful to its Semitic origin but like Christianitywas not confined to a particular ethnic group Islam thuscame to reassert the full doctrine of Divine Oneness on auniversal scale after the Axial Age and the appearance ofChristianity placing in a sense the last golden brick in thatgolden wall that is revelation With it the structure of thewall became complete and as far as Muslims are con-cerned although small religious movements may take placehere and there there is to be no plenary revelation afterIslam according to the Divine Providence and the spiritualeconomy of Godrsquos plans for present-day humanity Whenasked how they know such a truth Muslims point to theQuran itself and the fact that no previous revelation hadever made such an explicit claim Being the final religion ofthis cycle Islam is not only closely related to its sister

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M20

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 20

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

monotheisms Judaism and Christianity but also possessesan inward link to the religions of the Axial Age as well as toHinduism It is this link that made it easier for Islam thanfor Christianity to incorporate so much of the wisdom Hin-duism and of the religions of the Axial Age from Bud-dhism and Pythagoreanism to Zoroastrianism and evenlater to Confucianism within its sapiential perspective

Paradoxically the insistence of Islam upon God as theOne and the Absolute has had as its concomitant theacceptance of multiplicity of prophets and revelations andno sacred scripture is more universalist in its understandingof religion than the Quran whose perspective concerningthe universality of revelation may be called ldquovertical tri-umphalismrdquo In contrast in Christianity because of theemphasis on the Triune God God the One is seen more interms of the relationality of the three Hypostases what onemight call ldquoDivine Relativityrdquo the vision of the manifesta-tion of the Divine then became confined to the unique Sonand Incarnation in whom the light of all previous prophetswas absorbed In Christianity the vision is that of the Tri-une God and a unique message of salvation and saviorhence extra ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside thechurch) whereas in Islam there is the One God and manyprophets Here is to be found the major difference be-tween how Muslims have viewed Jews and Christians overthe centuries and how Christians have regarded Jews andMuslims as well as followers of other religions For Mus-lims the Quran completes the message of previous sacredtexts without in any way denigrating their significance Infact the Torah and the Gospels are mentioned by name assacred scriptures along with the Quran in the text of theQuran Likewise although the Prophet terminates thelong chain of prophecy the earlier prophets lose none

One God Many Prophets 21

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 21

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

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United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

of their spiritual significance Rather they appear in theIslamic firmament as stars while the Prophet is like themoon in that Islamic sky

THE QURAN

The sacred scripture of Islam known in Arabic by manynames of which the most famous is al-Qurrsquoan ldquotheRecitationrdquo is considered by all Muslims no matter towhich school they belong as the verbatim revelation ofGodrsquos Word made to descend into the heart soul andmind of the Prophet of Islam through the agency of thearchangel of revelation Gabriel or Jibrarsquoıl in Arabic Boththe words and meaning of the text are considered to besacred as is everything else connected with it such as thechanting of its verses or the calligraphy of its phrases Mus-lims are born with verses of the Book which Muslims callthe Noble Quran read into their ears live throughouttheir lives hearing its verses and also repeating certain of itschapters during daily prayers are married with the accom-paniment of Quranic recitations and die hearing it chantedbeside them

The Quran (also known as the Koran in English) is thecentral theophany of Islam the fundamental source of itsmetaphysics cosmology theology law ethics sacred his-tory and general worldview In a way the soul of the tradi-tional Muslim is like a mosaic made up of phrases of theQuran which are repeated throughout life such as the bas-malah ldquoIn the Name of God the Infinitely Good the All-Mercifulrdquo with which all legitimate acts begin and areconsecrated alh amdulirsquoLlah ldquoPraise be to Godrdquo withwhich one terminates an act or event in the attitude ofgratefulness insharsquoarsquoLlah ldquoIf God willsrdquo which accompa-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M22

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 22

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

nies every utterance concerning the future for the futureis in Godrsquos Hands and nothing takes place save throughHis Will Even the daily greeting of Muslims al-salamulsquoalaykum ldquoPeace be upon yourdquo which the Prophet taughtto his companions as the greeting of the people of paradisecomes from the Quran As some Western scholars of Islamhave noted there is perhaps no single book that is as influ-ential in any religion as the Quran is in Islam

To fully understand the significance of the Quran aWesterner with a Christian background should realize thatalthough the Quran can in a sense be compared to the Oldand New Testaments a more profound comparison wouldbe with Christ himself In Christianity both the spirit andbody of Christ are sacred and he is considered the Word ofGod The Quran is likewise for Muslims the Word of God(kalimat Allah) and both its inner meaning or spirit andits body or outer form the text in the Arabic language inwhich it was revealed are sacred to Muslims Arabic is thesacred language of Islam and Quranic Arabic plays a role inIslam analogous to the role of the body of Christ in Chris-tianity Moreover as Christians consume bread and wine assymbols of the flesh and blood of Christ Muslims pro-nounce using the same organ of the body that is themouth the Word of God in the daily prayers The rational-ist and agnostic methods of higher criticism applied by cer-tain Western scholars to the text of the Quran which wasnot compiled over a long period of time like the Old andthe New Testaments is as painful and as much a blasphemyto Muslims as it would be to believing Christians if someMuslim archeologists claimed to have discovered somephysical remain of Christ and were using DNA analysis todetermine whether he was born miraculously or was theson of Joseph

One God Many Prophets 23

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 23

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

In any case for Muslims themselves Sunni and Shılsquoitealike there is but a single text of the Quran consisting of114 chapters of over 6000 verses revealed to the Prophetof Islam in Mecca and Medina over the twenty-three yearsof his prophetic mission As verses were received and thenuttered by him they would be memorized by companionswho were Arabs with prodigious memories The verseswere also written down by scribes The order of the chap-ters of the Quran was also given by the Prophet throughDivine command During the caliphate of the third caliphlsquoUthman some twenty years after the death of the Prophetas many of those who had memorized the Quran weredying in various battles the complete text of the Quran wascopied in several manuscripts and sent to the four cornersof the Islamic world Later copies are based on this earlydefinitive collection

It is said in Islam that God gives to each prophet a mira-cle corresponding to what was important in his time Sincemagic was so significant in Egypt God gave Moses thepower to turn his staff into a serpent Since medicine wassuch an important art at the time of Christ God gave himthe miracle of raising the dead to life And since poetic elo-quence was the most prized of all virtues for pre-IslamicArabs God revealed through the Prophet by far the mosteloquent of all Arabic works In fact the greatest miracle ofIslam is said to be the eloquence of the Quran Its elo-quence not only moved the heart and soul of those Arabsof the seventh century who first heard it but also moves totears Muslim believers throughout the world today eventhose whose mother tongue is not Arabic although Arabicis the language of daily prayers for all Muslims Arab andnon-Arab alike The grace or barakah (corresponding bothetymologically and in meaning to the Hebrew barak) ofthe text transcends its mental message and moves souls

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M24

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 24

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

toward God in much the same way that hearing Gregorianchant in Latin would for centuries in the West deeply affecteven those who did not understand the Latin words Ofcourse the same can be said for the Latin Mass itselfwhose beautiful liturgy was of the deepest significance forsome fifteen hundred years even for those Catholics whodid not know Latin

The Quran has many names each revealing an aspect ofits reality It is al-Qurrsquoan or ldquorecitationrdquo which also meansldquogatheringrdquo or ldquoconcentrationrdquo It is al-Furqan or ldquodis-cernmentrdquo because it provides the criteria for discerningbetween truth and falsehood goodness and evil beautyand ugliness It is Umm al-kitab the archetypal book con-taining the root of all knowledge and it is al-Huda theguide for the journey of men and women toward God ForMuslims the Quran is the source of all knowledge bothoutward and inward the foundation of the Law the finalguide for ethical behavior and a net with which the DivineFisherman ensnares the human soul and brings it back toUnity

The Quran contains several grand themes First of all itdeals with the nature of reality with the Divine Reality andIts relation to the realm of relativity Second the Quransays much about the natural world and in a sense theIslamic sector of the cosmos participates in the Quranicrevelation Then the Quran contains many pages on sacredhistory but the episodes of this history are recounted morefor their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soulthan as historical accounts of ages past Sacred history inthe Quran contains above all moral and spiritual lessonsfor us here and now

The Quran also deals with laws for the individual andsociety and is the most important source of Islamic Law orthe Sharılsquoah Furthermore the Quran comes back again

One God Many Prophets 25

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 25

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

and again to the question of ethics of good and evil of thesignificance of living a virtuous life Finally the Quranspeaks especially in its last chapters in majestic languageabout eschatological events about the end of this worldabout the Day of Judgment paradise purgatory and hellThe language of the Quran especially in dealing with es-chatological realities is concrete and symbolic not abstractor descriptive in the ordinary sense which would in anycase be impossible when one is dealing with realities ourearthly imaginations cannot grasp This trait has causedmany outsiders to criticize the Quran for its sensuous de-scription of the delights of paradise as if they were simply asublimation of earthly joys and pleasures In reality everyjoy and delight here below especially sexuality which issacred for Islam is the reflection of a paradisal prototypenot vice versa

According to the Prophet and many of the earliest au-thorities such as lsquoAlı and Jalsquofar al-S adiq the Quran hasmany levels of meaning of which the highest is known toGod alone In the same way that God is both the Outward(al-Z ahir) and the Inward (al-Batin) His Book also has anoutward and an inward dimension or in fact several levelsof inner meaning Throughout Islamic history Quraniccommentaries have been written from both points of viewthe outward and the inward The first is called tafsır andthe second tarsquowıl Works of both categories are crucial forthe understanding of the text of the Quran each word andletter of which is like a living being with many levels of sig-nificance including a numerical symbolism which is stud-ied in the science called jafr corresponding to Jewish andChristian Kabbala

The chapters (surahs) and verses (ayahs) of the Quranare both the path and the guidepost in the Muslimrsquos earthlyjourney The root of everything Islamic from metaphysics

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M26

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 26

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

and theology to law and ethics to the sciences and arts is tobe found in it Every movement that has begun in Islamichistory whether religious intellectual social or politicalhas sought legitimization in the Quran and the permanentflow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected bysuch movements has also been marked in the deepest senseby the presence of the Quran Jurists have sought to inter-pret its legal verses and Sufis its inner meaning Philoso-phers have drawn from its philosophical utterances andtheologians have debated its assertions about the nature ofGodrsquos Attributes and His relation to the world Today aswhen it was revealed the Quran remains the central realityof Islam and the heart of Muslim life in both its individualand social aspects

THE PROPHET OF ISLAM

The Prophet of Islam to whom we shall henceforth refersimply as the Prophet is for the West the most misunder-stood reality within the Islamic universe For over a millen-nium he has been maligned in various European sources asan apostate a pretender and even the Antichrist and onehas had to wait well over a thousand years until the twenti-eth century to see fair treatments of him appear in Euro-pean languages Until recently Christians usually comparedhim of course very unfavorably to Christ assuming thathe holds the same position in Islam as Christ does in Chris-tianity Westerners therefore called Islam Mohammadanismuntil a few decades ago a term detested by Muslims andconcentrated their attacks against him in order to vilifyIslam Even those who admitted to his remarkable achieve-ments in this world refused to accept him as a prophetChristian attacks against him were in fact the most painfuland divisive element in Islamrsquos relationship with Christianity

One God Many Prophets 27

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 27

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

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United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

over the centuries Even today the general misunderstand-ing of the Prophet in the West remains a major obstacle tomutual understanding In modern times certain Westernwriters opposed to Christianity tried to use the Prophet asan instrument in their attacks on Christianity without anyreal appreciation or understanding of the Prophet himselfRarely does one find in earlier Western history a figure suchas the German poet Goethe who harbored deep respectand even love for the Prophet

To understand the heart of Islam it is therefore essentialto understand the significance of the Prophet from thepoint of view of traditional Muslimsmdashnot that of eitherMuslim modernists who neglect his spiritual dimension orthe so-called puritan reformers who for other reasons belit-tle his significance in the total religious economy of IslamThe Quran asserts clearly that the Prophet was a man andnot divine but also adds that God chose him as His finalmessenger the ldquoSeal of Prophetsrdquo that he was given themost exalted and noble character and that he was chosenas a model for Muslims to emulate as mentioned in theverse ldquoVerily you have in the Messenger of God an excel-lent exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Dayand remembers God oftenrdquo (3221) This verse is the basisfor the emulation of the Sunnah or wonts (in the sense ofactions and deeds) of the Prophet that is central to thewhole of Islam For Muslims the Prophet is a mortal man(bashar) but also Godrsquos most perfect creature or what theSufis the mystics of Islam call the Universal Man (al-insanal-kamil) As a Sufi poem recited often throughout theIslamic world asserts

Muhammad is a man but not like other menRather he is a ruby and other men are like stones

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M28

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 28

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

The Prophet was born in Mecca in the ldquoYear of the Ele-phantrdquo that is 570 CE into an aristocratic branch of amajor tribe of Mecca known as the Quraysh His own fam-ily descended from Hashim and so he and his descendantsare known as Hashimites which was a branch of theQuraysh His father lsquoAbd Allah died before he was bornand his mother Aminah also died when Muhammadwhose most famous name means ldquothe most praised onerdquowas very young leaving him an orphan He was broughtup in the household of his uncle Abu T alib the father oflsquoAlı the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Imam of ShılsquoismThe young Muhammad also spent some time with theBedouins in the desert to master Arabic eloquence and tolearn their ways which had been the custom of the peopleof Mecca from ancient times From his early days he wasknown for his honesty and sincerity and given the title ofal-Amın ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo He also had a strong contem-plative tendency which caused him to retreat often into thedesert for prayer Although the Meccans at that time prac-ticed a crass form of idolatry there were among them thosewho still followed the primordial monotheism of Abrahamand are referred to in the Quran as the h unafarsquo the pri-mordialists The Prophet was one such person and believedin the one God even before being chosen as prophet

As a young man Muhammad began to travel with cara-vans to Syria and Muslims believe that it was during one ofthese trips that a Christian monk Bah ırah predicted that hewould become a prophet Because of his honesty andearnestness which had become famous he attracted theattention of a wealthy businesswoman of Mecca Khadıjahwho was fifteen years his senior but who proposed marriageand asked him to manage her business affairs Muhammadaccepted and had a very happy marriage from which issued

One God Many Prophets 29

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 29

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

four daughters the most famous of whom is Fatimah Shelater married lsquoAlı and is the mother of all the descendants ofthe Prophet who are called sayyids or sharıfs and who haveplayed an extraordinary role in Islamic history The Prophethad a monogamous marriage until Khadıjah died when hewas fifty years old It was only in the last years of his life thathe contracted other marriages mostly for the political pur-pose of unifying the various tribes of Arabia

When Muhammad was forty years old and praying in acave called al-H irarsquo near Mecca the archangel Gabriel cameto him with the first verses of the revelation that constitutesthe beginning of Surah 96 ldquoThe Clotrdquo Thus began hisprophetic mission which was to be carried out in the mostdifficult situation conceivable for the message was one ofuncompromising monotheism in a city that was the cen-ter of Arabian idolatry The Kalsquobah or the House of Godwhich stands at the center of Mecca and is the most holysite in Islam was built originally according to Muslimbelief by Adam himself and rebuilt by Abraham But thisprimordial sanctuary had now become filled with the idolsof various tribes who would regularly visit Mecca for thepurpose of pilgrimage Mecca had therefore also become amajor center for trade and much of the power and wealthof Meccans derived from the presence of the Kalsquobah intheir city The message of the Prophet struck therefore atthe heart of not only the religion but also the source ofpower and wealth of the people of his own city includinghis family

At first only Khadıjah lsquoAlı and the Prophetrsquos old friendAbu Bakr accepted the message that was revealed to himGradually however a number of others including sucheminent personalities as lsquoUmar ibn al-Khattab who waslater to become the second caliph after Abu Bakr and

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M30

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 30

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

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Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

lsquoUthman ibn lsquoAffan the future third caliph embracedIslam The very success of the Prophetrsquos mission made theopposition to him and his followers more severe every dayThere were several attempts on his life until in the year 622CE after agreements made with emissaries sent from thecity of Yathrib to the north to Mecca he migrated byDivine command to that city along with his followers Thatmigration called al-hijrah in Arabic marks the major turn-ing point in Islamic history when Islam was transformedfrom a small group of devotees to a full-fledged commu-nity Yathrib became known as Madınat al-nabı the City ofthe Prophet and is known to this day as Medina Here thefirst Islamic society which has remained the ideal model forall later Islamic societies was founded

Shortly before the migration an event of supreme spiri-tual and religious significance took place in the Prophetrsquoslife an event that is also mentioned in the Quran Accord-ing to Islamic tradition he was taken on what is called theNocturnal Journey or al-milsquoraj on a supernatural horsecalled al-Buraq by Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem Thenfrom the place where the mosque of the Dome of the Rockis now located he was taken through all of the heavensthat is all the higher states of being to the Divine PresenceItself meeting on the journey earlier prophets such asMoses and Jesus The milsquoraj is the prototype of all spiritualwayfaring and realization in Islam and its architecture evenserved as a model for Dantersquos Divine Comedy The experi-ences of this celestial journey moreover constitute theinner reality of the Islamic daily prayers and also the bring-ing to completion the performance of their outward form

It was during this journey that the Prophet reached theDivine Presence beyond even the paradisal states at thestation that marks the boundary of universal existence

One God Many Prophets 31

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 31

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

beyond this station which the Quran calls the Lote Tree ofthe Uttermost End there is only the hidden mystery ofGod known to Himself alone It was in this most exaltedstate that the Prophet received the revelation that containswhat many consider to be the heart of the credo of IslamldquoThe Messenger believeth and the faithful believe in whathas been revealed unto him from his Lord Each onebelieveth in God and His angels and His books and Hismessengers we make no distinction between any of Hismessengers And they say we hear and we obey grant usThou our Lord Thy forgiveness unto Thee is the ultimatebecomingrdquo (2285)3

Jerusalem had been the first direction that Muslims facedwhen praying (qiblah) before it was replaced by Mecca byDivine order and is also considered to be the site of the es-chatological events at the end of time according to Islamictradition But the Nocturnal Journey made Jerusalem evenmore significant for Muslims In fact the three holy citiesof Islam namely Mecca Medina and Jerusalem are inex-tricably intertwined with the life of the Prophet

In Medina the nascent community was confronted im-mediately with attacks from the Meccans and several warscalled maghazı were fought in which the Muslims prevailedusually against unbelievable odds Finally the message ofIslam spread throughout Arabia The Prophet returned intriumph to Mecca forgiving all those who had done somuch to harm him and his followers He purified theKalsquobah of the idols in and on top of it and then performedalong with other rites circumambulations of the House ofGod following the footsteps of Abraham a pilgrimagecalled h ajj which continues to this day being one of theldquopillarsrdquo or fundamental elements of the religion But hedid not remain in the city of his birth and upbringing

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M32

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 32

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Rather he returned to Medina where he died in 632 afterthree days of illness He was buried in his own apartmentwhich was adjacent to the mosque he had built Called theMosque of the Prophet or Masjid al-nabı it is the originalmodel of all later mosques and is visited to this day by mil-lions of Muslim pilgrims every year from all over the world

The Prophet died having unified Arabia ended theprevalent violence and created peace among tribes that hadbeen fighting each other since time immemorial With fewmeans a man who had been an orphan and who had suf-fered in countless ways laid the foundations for a new reli-gious society and civilization that was soon to make itsmark upon a large portion of the world and begin a newchapter in human history This summary account of the lifeof the Prophet brings into focus the way in which Muslimsview the life of the founder of their religion In order tounderstand Islam it is essential to grasp the significance ofthis account for Muslims and not to accept blindly whatearlier revisionist Christian polemicists or contemporaryagnostic historians may have written in the West about him

To comprehend the significance of the Prophet in Islamit is necessary to remember that the great founders of reli-gions are of two types The first constitutes the category ofthose figures who preach detachment from the world and aspiritual life that does not become entangled with ordinaryworldly matters with all their ambiguities and complexitiesSupreme examples of this type are found in Christ and theBuddha both of whom founded what were originally smallspiritual communities divorced from and not integratedinto the political social and economic conditions of thelarger society Christ who said that his kingdom was not ofthis world did not marry and was not the leader and rulerof a whole human society and the Buddha left the married

One God Many Prophets 33

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 33

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

life of a prince to devote himself to the monastic life andthe attainment of illumination

The second type is exemplified by Moses David andSolomon in the Abrahamic world and by Rama and Krishnain Hinduism Such figures whether seen as prophets oravatars entered into the complexity of the ordinary humanorder to transform and sanctify it The Hebrew prophets aswell as some avataric figures from Hinduism were alsopolitical leaders and rulers of a human community Theywere married and had children and therefore appear tothose who have been brought up gazing upon the dazzlingspiritual perfection of Christ or the Buddha as being tooimmersed in the life of the world and therefore less perfectSuch a judgment neglects the truth that once Christianityand Buddhism became religions of a whole society theytoo had to deal with the earthly realities of human societywith justice war and peace and the question of family andsexual relations

In any case the Prophet must be seen as belonging tothe second category His contemplativeness was inwardwhile outwardly he had to face nearly every possible humansituation He experienced being an orphan living the lifeof a merchant suffering persecution He grieved deeplythe loss of his beloved wife Khadıjah and his two-year-oldson Ibrahım but he also knew the happiness of family lifeand of final triumph in the world He who loved solitudeand contemplation had to deal with the affairs of men andwomen with all their frailties and shortcomings He had torule over a whole society and to sit as judge in cases of onepartyrsquos complaints against another One might say that hismission was to sanctify all of life and to create an equilib-rium in human life that could serve as the basis for surren-der and effacement before the Divine Truth

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M34

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 34

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

In every religion all the virtues of its adherents derivefrom those existing in the founder of the religion In thesame way that no Christian can claim to have any virtuethat was not possessed to the utmost extent by Christ noMuslim can have any virtue that was not possessed in themost eminent degree by the Prophet More specifically theProphet exemplifies the virtues of humility nobility mag-nanimity and charity and truthfulness and sincerity ForMuslims the Prophet is the perfect model of total humilitybefore God and neighbor nobility and magnanimity ofsoul which means to be strict with oneself but generouscharitable and forgiving to others and finally perfect sin-cerity which means to be totally truthful to oneself and toGod This crowning Islamic virtue requires the melting ofour ego before God for as a Sufi saying asserts ldquoHe whosesoul melteth not away like snow in the hand of religion[that is the Truth] in his hand religion like snow awaydoth meltrdquo4

Love for the Prophet is incumbent upon all Muslimsand in fact constitutes a basic aspect of Islamic religiouslife It might be said that this love is the key for the love ofGod for in order to love God God must first love us andGod does not love a person who does not love His mes-senger The Prophet is also held in the greatest esteem andrespect He has many names such as Ahmad (ldquothe mostpraiseworthy of those who praise Godrdquo) lsquoAbd Allah (ldquoser-vant of Godrdquo) Abursquol-Qasim (ldquoFather of Qasimrdquo) andal-Amın (ldquothe Trusted Onerdquo) as well as MuhammadWhenever any of these names are mentioned they are fol-lowed with the formulaic phrase ldquoMay peace and blessingsbe upon himrdquo It is considered a sign of disrespect to men-tion his name or the name of any of the other prophetswithout invoking the benediction of peace upon them

One God Many Prophets 35

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 35

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

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United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

The invocation of benediction upon the Prophet is so cen-tral for Muslims that it might be said to be the only act thatis performed by both God and human beings for as theQuran says ldquoVerily God and His angels shower blessingsupon the Prophet O ye who have faith Ask blessings onhim and salute him with a worthy salutationrdquo (3356)

The love and respect for the Prophet also extends toother prophets who remain spiritually alive in the Islamicuniverse In fact Muslims do not consider the fact that themessage of the Prophet was conclusive to mean that it wasalso exclusive The Prophet is for them both the personthey love and admire as Godrsquos most perfect creature andthe continuation of the long chain of prophets to whom heis inwardly connected A pious Muslim would never thinkof praising the Prophet while denigrating the prophets whocame before him particularly those mentioned in theQuran In the metaphysical sense the Prophet is both amanifestation of the Logos and the Logos itself both thebeginning of the prophetic cycle and its end and being itsend and seal he contains from an essential and inwardpoint of view the whole prophetic function within himselfIt is in this sense that Mahmud Shabistarı sang of theProphet using his esoteric name Ahmad in his Gulshan-iraz (ldquoThe Secret Garden of Divine Mysteriesrdquo)

Since the number hundred has come ninety is alsowith us

The name of Ahmad is the name of all the prophets

The love for the Prophet therefore far from diminish-ing respect for other prophets has only increased the ad-miration of Muslims for the prophets who preceded theProphet of Islam and for whom he himself held the greatest

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M36

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 36

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

respect as reflected in the many traditions or sayingstransmitted from him

These sayings called in the plural ah adıth were assem-bled after his death and after much critical study collectedin canonical collections by both Sunni and Shılsquoite scholarsThey form after the Quran the most important source ofeverything Islamic and constitute in fact the first com-mentary upon the Quran Technically the H adıth is part ofthe Sunnah which means all the doings or wonts of theProphet The Sunnah is the model upon which Muslimshave based their lives including the rituals ordained bythe Quran Along with the teachings of the Quran theSunnah is the primary cause for the unity so observableamong Muslims from so many diverse ethnic groups andcultures As for the H adıth some deal with the most sub-lime spiritual truths and others with everyday aspects oflife such as how to carry out an economic transactionjustly or how to deal fairly with onersquos family They includesuch sayings as

ldquoNo person is a true believer unless he desires for hisbrother that which he desires for himselfrdquo

ldquoIllumine your hearts by hunger and strive to con-quer your ego by hunger and thirst continue toknock at the gates of Paradise by hungerrdquo

ldquoTo honor an old person is to show respect forGodrdquo

ldquoThere are heavenly rewards for every act of kind-ness to a live animalrdquo

ldquoGod is beautiful and He loves beautyrdquoldquoCharity is a duty for every Muslim He who has

not the means thereto let him do a good act orabstain from an evil one That is his charityrdquo

One God Many Prophets 37

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 37

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

ldquoWhen the bier of anyone passes by you whetherJew Christian or Muslim rise to your feetrdquo

ldquoGod is pure and loves purity and cleanlinessrdquoldquoThe best jihad is the conquest of the selfrdquoldquoHeaven lies at the feet of mothersrdquoldquoThe key to Paradise is prayerrdquoldquoGod saith lsquoI fulfill the faith of whosoever puts his

faith in Me and I am with him and near him whenhe remembers Mersquordquo

The spiritual reality of the Prophet is ever present inIslamic society through the living character of his Sunnahand the authority of his H adıth It is moreover experiencedthrough the grace that emanates from his spiritual realityand is called ldquoMuhammadan barakahrdquo a grace that is everpresent in the life of Sufism in the litanies chanted in honorof the Prophet in the visitation to holy sites throughout theIslamic world which are like so many extensions of Medinaand in the heart of all Muslims for whom the love of theProphet is both the necessary concomitant and means ofaccess to the love of God This love for the Prophet alsoentails love and respect for other messengers to which theQuran refers so frequently Even the Islamic definition offaith (al-ıman) states the necessity of having faith in GodHis angels and His messengers not only His messenger Asthe Quran states ldquoO ye who believe Believe in God andHis messenger and the Scripture which He has revealedunto His messenger and the Scripture which He revealedbefore Whosoever disbelieves in God His angels and HisScriptures and His messengers and the Last Day he verilyhas wandered far awayrdquo (4136) It is not only disbeliefin the messenger but in all of Godrsquos messengers that leadsa person away from the path of correct belief and faithful-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M38

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 38

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

ness But of course to be a Muslim requires specificallythe acceptance of the messengership and prophethood ofMuhammad hence the second testification (shahadah) ofIslam Muhammadun rasul Allah (ldquoMuhammad is the Mes-senger of Godrdquo) Through this pronouncement along withthe first shahadah a person formally becomes a Muslim Thefirst shahadah La ilaha illarsquoLlah (ldquoThere is no god butGodrdquo) is by itself in fact universal testimony to the accep-tance of religion as such to al-dın which lies at the heartnot only of Islam but of all the authentic religions revealedbefore the descent of the Quran

ISLAMrsquoS ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHER RELIGIONS IN HISTORY

In light of what has been said of the Islamic conception ofrevelation and religious diversity it is important to mentionthat before modern times Islam was the only revealed reli-gion to have had direct contact with nearly all the majorreligions of the world It had met Judaism and Christianityin its birthplace in Arabia and afterward in Palestine Syriaand Egypt the Iranian religions such as Zoroastrianism andManichaeism after its conquest of Persia in the seventh cen-tury Hinduism and Buddhism in eastern Persia and Indiashortly thereafter the Chinese religions through the SilkRoute as well as through Muslim merchants who traveledto Canton and other Chinese ports the African religionssoon after the spread of Islam into Black Africa some four-teen hundred years ago and Siberian Shamanism in theform of the archaic religions of the Turkic and Mongolianpeoples as they descended into the Islamic world Centuriesago Zoroaster and the Buddha were common householdnames among Muslims of the eastern lands of the Islamic

One God Many Prophets 39

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 39

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

world especially Persia Indian Muslims had come to knowof Krishna and Rama a thousand years ago The Persianpolymath al-Bırunı had composed a major work on India inthe eleventh century one that is still a valuable source ofknowledge for medieval Hinduism Furthermore numer-ous works of classical Hinduism and some of Buddhismwere translated into Persian centuries ago including theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita Chinese Muslim schol-ars knew the Confucian classics and many considered Con-fucius and Lao-Tze prophets

The global nature of the religious knowledge of alearned Muslim sitting in Isfahan in the fourteenth centurywas very different from that of a scholastic thinker in Parisor Bologna of the same period On the basis of the Quranicdoctrine of religious universality and the vast historicalexperiences of a global nature Islamic civilization devel-oped a cosmopolitan and worldwide religious perspectiveunmatched before the modern period in any other religionThis global vision is still part and parcel of the worldview oftraditional Muslims of those who have not abandonedtheir universal vision as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism or reactions to this onslaught in the form of whathas come to be called ldquofundamentalismrdquo

Within this global religious context it is of course theJewish and Christian traditions with which Islam has thegreatest affinity The Hebrew prophets and Christ aredeeply respected by Muslims The Virgin Mary is consid-ered by the Quran to hold the most exalted spiritual posi-tion among women A chapter of the Quran is named afterher and she is the only woman mentioned by name inIslamrsquos sacred scripture Moreover the miraculous birth ofChrist from a virgin mother is recognized in the QuranRespect for such teachings is so strong among Muslims that

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M40

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 40

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

today in interreligious dialogues with Christians and JewsMuslims are often left defending traditional Jewish andChristian doctrines such as the miraculous birth of Christbefore modernist interpreters who would reduce them tometaphors and the sacred history of the Hebrew prophetsto at best inspired stories

The sacred figures of Judaism and Christianity are oftenmentioned in the Quran and even in prayers said on vari-ous occasions The tombs of the Hebrew prophets whoare also Islamic prophets are revered and visited in pil-grimage by Muslims to this day One need only recall theholiness for Muslims of the tomb of Abraham in al-Khalılor Hebron in Palestine of that of Joshua in Jordan andof Mosesrsquo resting place on Mt Nebo also in Jordan SomeMuslims have occasionally criticized intellectually and alsoengaged militarily Jews and Christians but they have notcriticized the Jewish prophets or Christ (even if certaintheological differences with followers of Judaism andChristianity did exist) at least not those who have heededthe call of the Quran and understood its message Islamsees itself as the third of the Abrahamic religions which arebound together by countless theological ethical and es-chatological beliefs even though they are marked by differ-ences willed by God

To speak of the Judeo-Christian tradition against whichIslam is pitted as the ldquootherrdquo is an injustice to the messageof Abraham and also theologically false no matter howconvenient it might be for some people There is as muchdifference between Judaism and Christianity as there isbetween Christianity and Islam In certain domains Juda-ism is closer to Islam than it is to Christianity it has asacred language Hebrew like Arabic in Islam and it has asacred law the Halakhah corresponding to the Sharılsquoah

One God Many Prophets 41

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 41

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Furthermore they share an opposition to all forms of idol-atry and to the creation of iconic sacred art which wouldallow an image of the Divinity to be painted or sculpted Incertain other ways Islam is closer to Christianity bothemphasize the immortality of the soul eschatological reali-ties and the accent on the inner life Then there are thosebasic principles upon which all three religions agree theOneness of God prophecy sacred scripture much ofsacred history and basic ethical norms such as the sanctityof life reverence for the laws of God humane treatment ofothers honesty in all human dealings kindness toward theneighbor the application of justice and so forth Islam isan inalienable and inseparable part of the Abrahamic familyof religions and considers itself to be closely linked with thetwo monotheistic religions that preceded it Islam envis-ages itself the complement of those religions and the finalexpression of Abrahamic monotheism confirming theteachings of Judaism and Christianity but rejecting anyform of exclusivism

WHO IS A BELIEVERAND WHO IS AN INFIDEL

With this framework in mind it will be easier to understandthe categorization in Islam of people into believers(mursquomins) and what has been translated in the West asldquoinfidelsrdquo or ldquononbelieversrdquo (kafirs) which means literallyldquothose who cover over the truthrdquo Every religion has a wayof distinguishing itself from the other religions Judaismspeaks of Jews and Gentiles and Christianity of the faithfuland the heathens or pagans Each of these categorizationshas both a theological and a popular and historical rootrelated to the self-understanding as well as the history of

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M42

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 42

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

that religion In the case of Islam the distinction is basedmore on the question of faith or ıman and less on themore general term islam In the Quran faith implies ahigher level of participation in the religion as we shall dis-cuss in the next chapter and even today only those whotake their religion very seriously and are virtuous are calledmursquomin (or possessors of ıman) And yet the Quran doesnot limit the term mursquomin only to those who follow theIslamic religion it includes the faithful of Islam along withfollowers of other religions as is evidenced by the Quranicassertion ldquoVerily those who have faith [in what is revealedto the Prophet] and those who are Jews and Christians andSabaeansmdashwhosoever has faith in God and the Last Dayand does rightmdashsurely their reward is with their Lord andno fear shall overcome them and neither shall they grieverdquo(262) In this verse as well as verse 69 of Surah 5 (ldquoTheTable Spreadrdquo) which nearly repeats the same messagerecognition of other religions is extended even beyondJudaism Christianity and Sabaeanism to include ldquowhoso-ever has faith in Godrdquo and the possibility of salvation isalso made explicitly universal Likewise the boundary be-tween the Muslim faithful and the faithful of other religionsis lifted One could therefore say that in the most universalsense whoever has faith and accepts the One God nor theSupreme Principle is a believer or mursquomin and whoeverdoes not is an infidel or a kafir whatever the nominal andexternal ethnic and even religious identification of that per-son might be

As a result of this explicit universality of the Quranic textthe use of the terms ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo and ldquoinfidelrdquo orldquononbelieverrdquo is much more complicated than what we findin Christianity In Islam there is first of all the Sufi meta-physical view of absolute Truth which is seen to be beyond

One God Many Prophets 43

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 43

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

all duality even beyond the dichotomy of ıman and kufr orfaith and infidelity yet to reach that transcendent Truthbeyond all duality one must begin with faith and start fromthe formal foundations of Islam which distinguishes itselfclearly from kufr The esoteric understanding of kufr andıman so prevalent in classical Sufi poetry especially amongthe Persian poets such as Rumı Shabistarı and H afiz mustnot therefore be confused with the prevalent idea in cer-tain Western circles that one can reach the absolute Truthby simply avoiding the world of faith as well as infidelity Onthe levels of external religious forms ıman has to do withtruth and kufr with falsehood This dichotomy is notdestroyed by the exhortation of the Sufis to go beyond kufrand ıman which means to reach tawh ıd or oneness beyondall oppositions and dichotomies

On the formal and popular plane traditional Muslimshave often used the category of ldquobelieverrdquo or ldquofaithfulrdquo forMuslims as well as followers of other religions especiallyChristians and Jews But there have been also historicalperiods in which the term ldquofaithfulrdquo was reserved for Mus-lims and kafir or ldquoinfidelrdquo was used for non-Muslims as inthe Ottoman Empire where Europeans were called kuffarinfidels The situation is however made even more compli-cated by the fact that throughout Islamic history certainMuslim groups have called other Muslim groups infidelssome even going to the extent of treating them in practiceas enemies For example during early Islamic history theKhawarij who opposed both the Sunnis and Shılsquoites as infi-dels attacked both groups physically and militarily LaterIsmalsquoılıs were considered kuffar by many Sunni scholarsand even in mainstream Islam over the centuries someSunni and Twelve-Imam Shılsquoite scholars have called each

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M44

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 44

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

other kafir In the eighteenth century the Wahhabı move-ment which began in Najd in Arabia considered orthodoxSunnis and Shılsquoites both not to be genuine Muslims andoften cast the anathema of being infidels or what is calledtakfır upon them while many Ottoman H anaf ı scholarsconsidered the Wahhabıs themselves to be kuffar

The prevalent image in the West that all Muslims areunited as the faithful against the infidelsmdasheven if some well-known Christian preachers repeat to their flocks this asser-tion made by some extremists within the Islamic worldmdashissimply not true There have always been those who havespoken of the necessity of the unity of Muslims as the faith-ful and in a certain sense that unity has been always theredespite diversity on many levels But the whole question ofwho is a believer or a person of faith and who is an unbe-liever or infidel requires a much more nuanced answerthan is usually given in generally available sources

Moreover the term kafir has both a theological and judi-cial definition and a popular political and social definitionand the two should not be confused In the conscience ofmany devout Muslims a pious Christian or Jew is still seenas a believer while an agnostic with an Arabic or Persianname is seen as a kafir And the anathema of kufr far frominvolving only outsiders has also concerned various groupswithin the Islamic world itself Today even while someMuslims hold ldquoinfidelsrdquo responsible for the onslaught of asecularist culture from the West they also use the samecharacterization for those within the Islamic world itselfwho while still formally Muslim accept and preach secular-ist ideas that negate the very foundations of the Islamic rev-elation As a matter of fact secularism is the commonenemy of all the Abrahamic traditions and the erosion of

One God Many Prophets 45

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 45

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

moral authority in secular societies that we observe todayposes as many problems for Jews and Christians as it doesfor Muslims

ISLAM AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM TODAY

Muslims today continue to experience the presence of otherreligions in their midst as they have done over the centuriesIn the middle part of the Islamic world there are Christianminorities the largest being in Egypt and still some Jewsespecially in Iran and Turkey although most of the Jewsfrom Arab countries migrated to Israel after 1948 Thereare still Zoroastrians in Iran and Muslims live with Hindusin India of course but also in Bangladesh Nepal Malaysiaand Indonesia and with Buddhists in Sri Lanka ThailandLadakh Burma China and elsewhere They also live withConfucians and Taoists not in only China but also inMalaysia and Indonesia By and large through most peri-ods of Islamic history the relation between Muslims andreligious minorities living in their midst has been peacefulExceptions have arisen when severe political issues such asthe partition of Palestine or India have altered ordinaryrelations between Muslims and followers of other religionsToday despite some abuses here and there issuing from so-called fundamentalist currents in various Islamic countriesreligious minorities in the Islamic world usually fare betterthan Muslim minorities do in other lands except in Amer-ica and some Western countries where they have been ableto practice their religion until now without manifest or hid-den restrictions All one has to do is to compare the situa-tion of the Christian minorities of Syria Iraq and Iranthree states not known for their leaning toward the Westwith Muslim minorities in China the Philippines India

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M46

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 46

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

and the Russian Caucasus not to speak of the Balkanswhere the horror inflicted by Christian Serbs upon MuslimBosnians and Kosovars is still fresh in everyonersquos memory

The peaceful presence in the Islamic world of variousreligious minorities especially Christians has been upset toa large extent in recent times by Western missionary activ-ity which has caused severe reaction not only among Mus-lims but also among Hindus Buddhists and others Thisquestion of Christian missionary activity (of the Westernchurches not Orthodoxy) is a complicated matter requir-ing an extensive separate treatment but it must be men-tioned briefly here Suffice it to say that as far as theIslamic world is concerned this activity was from the be-ginning of the modern period combined with colonialismand many Western Christian missionaries have preached asmuch secularized Western culture as Christianity Many ofthem have tried and still try to propagate Christianity notthrough the teachings of Christ alone but mostly by theappeal of material aid such as rice and medicine given inthe name of Christian charity but with the goal of conver-sion Many of their schools have been happy if they couldwean the Muslim students away from firm belief in Islameven if they could not make them Christian It is not acci-dental that some of the most virulent anti-Western secular-ized Arab political leaders of the past decades have beengraduates of American schools in the Middle East firstestablished by missionaries schools where these studentswere religiously and culturally uprooted

To understand current Islamic reactions to Christianmissionary activity in many countries one should ask howthe people of Texas and Oklahoma where many Americanevangelists come from would respond to the followingscenario Suppose that with vast oil money from the

One God Many Prophets 47

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 47

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Islamic world Islamic schools were to be established inthose states Because of their prestige these schools at-tracted the children of the most powerful and well-to-do families and these future leaders in attending theseschools underwent a systematic process of cultural Ara-bization even if they did not participate in the encouragedformal conversion to Islam

Western missionary activity is not like that of medievalChristian preachers of the Gospels or like the Orthodoxmissionaries among the Inuits of Canada who wouldadopt the language of the Inuits and even their dress Mostmodern Western missionary activity throughout Asia andAfrica has meant above all Westernization and globaliza-tion combined with the cult of consumerism all in thename of Christianity Were there not to be such a powerfulpolitical economic and even military pressure behind thepresence of these missionaries then their presence wouldbe in a sense like that of Tibetan Buddhists or Muslims inCanada or the United States and would not pose a dangerto the very existence of local religions and cultures But thesituation is otherwise and therefore Christian missionaryactivity especially in such places as Indonesia Pakistanand sub-Saharan Africa plays a very important role in cre-ating tension between Islam and Christianity and indirectlythe West which gives material and political support tothese missionaries even if as in France the state is avow-edly secularist

Of course this identification with modern Western secu-larist and now consumerist culture has not always been thecase with all missionaries The French Catholic Pegravere deFoucault lived for a long time among Muslim North Afri-cans as a humble witness to Christ and was greatly respectedby his Muslim neighbors as were a number of other monks

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M48

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 48

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

and priests There have also been humble Protestants whocame to Muslims to represent a presence of Christrsquos mes-sage without aggressive proselytizing through material en-ticement of the poor Such exceptions have certainlyexisted Nevertheless Western Christian missionary activ-ity supported as it is directly or indirectly by all the mightof the West poses a major problem for contemporary Mus-limsrsquo dealings with Western Christianity in contrast to localforms of Christianity with which Muslims have lived usu-ally in peace for centuries One need only recall in this con-text that while Baghdad was being bombed during thePersian Gulf War no Iraqi Muslims attacked any local IraqiChristians walking down the street whereas the reverse hasnot been true since the tragic September 11 terrorist acts anumber of American and European Muslims have beenattacked and harassed as a result of the religious racial andethnic xenophobia that has been created in certain circlesby that great tragedy

In speaking of missionary activity it is necessary to saysomething about Islamic teachings concerning apostasy(irtidad) which has been criticized by missionary circlesand others in the West According to classical interpreta-tions of the Sharılsquoah the punishment for apostasy for aMuslim is death and this is interpreted by many Westernersto mean the lack of freedom of conscience in Islam To clar-ify this issue first of all a few words about conversion TheQuran says ldquoThere is no compulsion in religionrdquo (2256)and in most periods of Islamic history there was no forcedconversion of the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo In fact forcedconversion is an affront to God and the dignity of thehuman conscience created by Him Arabia at the time ofthe Quranic revelation was an exception There the paganArabs who practiced a most crass form of polytheism were

One God Many Prophets 49

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 49

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

given the choice of either becoming Muslims or battlingagainst them It was very similar to the choice offered byChristian to European ldquopagansrdquo once Christianity gainedpower on that continent But even in Arabia the Jews andChristians were not forced to become Muslims

The Sharılsquoite ruling on apostasy may therefore seemstrange in light of Islamrsquos attitude toward other heavenlyinspired religions The reason for such a ruling must besought in the fact that attachment to Islam was relatedbefore modern times to being a member of the Islamicstate as well as community and therefore apostasy was seenas treason against the state not just religious conversionToday when the state is no longer Islamic in the traditionalsense in most Islamic countries many religious scholarshave spoken against capital punishment for apostasy More-over in practice although the law is still ldquoon the booksrdquo inmany places it is hardly ever applied as can be seen by thepresence of several million Christians converted from Islamby Western missionaries in recent times in such countriesas Indonesia Pakistan and several West African nationsIn practice this law is somewhat like laws against adulterythat are still ldquoon the booksrdquo in England but not appliedSectarian fighting between Muslims and newly convertedChristians still occurs in Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria theSudan and a few other places but these have more to dowith local political economic and social issues than withthe traditional Sharılsquoite ruling about apostasy

The traditional Sharılsquoite ruling which is now beingamended by some legal authorities and for the most partignored because of changed conditions must be under-stood not in the context of the modern West where reli-gion has been to a large extent marginalized and pushedaway from the public arena but in the framework of the

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M50

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 50

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Christian West One only has to think what would havehappened to Christians in medieval France or seventeenth-century Spain if they had converted to Islam In any casethe question of apostasy raised so often by those who askabout Islamrsquos relation to other religions must be under-stood in both its classical context and the present-day situ-ation when it is largely overlooked because of changedconditions and is in fact being reinterpreted by a numberof important Islamic legal experts

Another issue often raised in the West when discussingIslamrsquos relation to other religions is that Islam does notallow the presence of non-Muslims in a certain area aroundMecca while Christianity allows non-Christians even intothe Vatican Now it must be understood that each religionhas its own regulations concerning sacred spaces In Hin-duism certain areas in Benares are closed to all non-Hindusand Muslims respected those rules even when they ruledover that city and did not force their way into the MonkeyTemple or other sacred sites Like Hinduism and severalother religions Islam has a sacred space around Meccawhose boundaries were designated by the Prophet himselfand where non-Muslims are not allowed

That has never meant that the rest of the Islamic worldhas been closed to the presence of other religions and theirhouses of worship Churches dot the skyline of CairoBeirut Damascus and many other cities and synagoguesare also found everywhere a Jewish community lives fromTehran to Fez Within the Ottoman Empire in many placesin the Balkans where Jews Christians and Muslims livedtogether synagogues churches and mosques were builtnext to each other To this day this harmonious presence ofdifferent houses of worship is visible in Istanbul itself Out-side of the h arım or sacred precinct in Arabia it is the

One God Many Prophets 51

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 51

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

duty of the Muslim state according to the Sharılsquoah toallow the building and maintenance of houses of worshipof the ldquoPeople of the Bookrdquo and any order to the contraryis against the tenets of Islamic Law and traditional practice

Of course during Islamic history there were occasionswhen after a major triumph a church was converted into amosque as happened with the Hagia Sophia but thereverse also took place often as when the Grand Mosque ofCordova was converted into a cathedral Altogether forIslam the general norm is the one established by lsquoUmarwho when he conquered Jerusalem ordered the Churchof the Holy Sepulchre to be honored and protected as achurch Otherwise most of the churches in the Islamicworld that later became mosques were those abandoned byChristian worshipers somewhat like what one sees in somecities in Great Britain these days

On the intellectual plane there is a great deal of interestin the Islamic world today in religious dialogue the impe-tus for which originated in Christian circles mostly afterWorld War II In many countries such as Morocco EgyptJordan Syria Lebanon Iran Malaysia and Indonesia reli-gious dialogue has even been encouraged by governmentsas well as by individuals and religious organizations Nu-merous conferences have been held in many parts of theworld with Protestants Catholics and more recently Or-thodox Christians with Hindus in India and Indonesiaand with Buddhists and Confucians in Malaysia Because ofthe Palestinian-Israeli problem the dialogue with Judaismhas been somewhat more difficult but even that has alsocontinued to some extent in both the Middle East andthe West In these dialogues scholars from many differentschools of thought have participated both those within theIslamic world and those Muslims living in the West There

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M52

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 52

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

have been some exclusivists who have opposed such dia-logues as one sees also among Christians and Jews but theactivity of religious dialogue has gone on for decades in theIslamic world and is now an important part of the currentIslamic religious and intellectual landscape

Even on the more theoretical and philosophical levelwhat has come to be known as religious pluralism hasbecome a matter of great interest and a major intellectualchallenge in many Islamic countries today including someof those called ldquofundamentalistrdquo in the West There is nocountry in the Islamic world in which there is greater inter-est in the theological and philosophical questions involvedin the issue of religious pluralism than Iran There works ofsuch famous Protestant and Catholic writers on the subjectas John Hick and Hans Kuumlng have been translated and arebeing discussed even in the public media there the viewsof traditionalist metaphysicians such as Frithjof Schuonwho speaks of the ldquotranscendent unity of religionsrdquo a viewthat is also my own are part and parcel of the general in-tellectual discourse The same keen interest is also to befound in countries as different as Turkey Pakistan andMalaysia

Faced with the danger of loss of identity and the enfee-blement of religion as a result of the onslaught of mod-ernism with its secularist bias some Muslims many veryactive and vocal espouse a radical exclusivist point of viewwhen it comes to the question of the relation of Islam toother religions But for the vast majority of Muslims theQuranic doctrine of the universality of revelation and theplurality of prophets under the One God still resonatesdeeply in their hearts and souls and they remain ever mind-ful of the many verses of the Quran concerning the realityof One God and the multiplicity of revelations sent by

One God Many Prophets 53

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 53

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Him When they think of their beloved Prophet they aremindful of these words of God

We inspire thee [Muhammad] as We inspired Noahand the prophets after him as We inspired Abrahamand Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes andJesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomonand as We imparted unto David the Psalms

And messengers We have mentioned unto theebefore and messengers We have not mentioned untothee and God spoke directly to Moses

Messengers of good news and warning in orderthat mankind might have no argument against Godafter the messengers God is Mighty and Wise(4163ndash65)

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M54

013qxd 81402 241 PM Page 54

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

N o t e s

CHAPTER ONE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 692 Trans Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall The Meaning of the Glori-

ous Koran (many editions) modified3 Trans Lings in Muhammad p 1024 Trans Martin Lings A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century (Berkeley

University of California Press 1973) p i

CHAPTER TWO1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) pp 333ndash34

CHAPTER THREE1 Trans Martin Lings in Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest

Sources (Cambridge UK Islamic Texts Society 1991) p 69

CHAPTER FOUR1 Titus Burckhardt Fez City of Islam trans W Stoddart (Cambridge

Islamic Texts Society 1992) pp 102ndash3

CHAPTER FIVE1 Trans B Lewis Music of a Distant Drum (Princeton NJ Princeton

University Press 2001) p 1932 Trans A M Schimmel As Through a Veil (New York Columbia

University Press 1982) p 183 Rumı Mathnawı II v 593

CHAPTER SIX1 Trans W Chittick A Shilsquoite Anthology (Albany State University of

New York Press 1981) pp 68ndash692 Rumı Mathnawı Book I v 3735f

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 317

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

notes3qxd 81402 414 PM Page 318

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

B i b l i o g r a p h y

Ahmed Nazeer Islam in Global History 2 vols Chicago KaziPublications 2000A clear and detailed history of the Islamic world from the adventof Islam to the modern period

Armstrong Karen Muhammad A Biography of the ProphetSan Francisco HarperSanFrancisco 1992A detailed and fairly sympathetic account of the life of theProphet by a major Western writer on religion

Asad Muhammad The Road to Mecca Louisville KY FonsVitae 2001A moving account of the experience of an Austrian journalistwho went to the Islamic world in 1927 embraced Islam andbecame a major Muslim intellectual figure

Bill James and John A Williams Roman Catholics and ShilsquoiMuslims Prayer Passion and Politics Chapel Hill and Lon-don University of North Carolina Press 2002The first comparative study of Catholicism and Shılsquoism show-ing some of the remarkable resemblances between the twotraditions

Burckhardt Titus Fez City of Islam Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 1992A unique in-depth study of the spiritual religious artistic intel-lectual and social life of one of Islamrsquos greatest traditional citieswith numerous insights that apply to the Islamic world as awhole

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 337

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Cleary Thomas The Essential Koran Edison NJ Castle Books1998A lucid and highly readable translation of selections from theQuran

Eaton Charles le Gai Islam and the Destiny of Man AlbanyState University of New York 1985 Cambridge IslamicTexts Society 1985A profound study of some of the basic tenets of Islam by a lead-ing British Muslim writer

mdashmdashmdash Remembering God Reflections on Islam Chicago KaziPublications 2000 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 2000An eloquent treatment of Islamic spirituality and the existentialproblems created by living as a Muslim in the modern world

Esposito John Islam The Straight Path Oxford Oxford Uni-versity Press 1998An account of Islam and the development of contemporaryIslamic trends by a very perceptive scholar of modern develop-ments in various parts of the Islamic world

Hallaq W A History of Islamic Legal Theories CambridgeCambridge University Press 1999A scholarly treatment of the historical development of the theo-ries of Islamic Law

Herlihy John In Search of the Truth Kuala Lumpur DewanPustaka Islam 1990An Americanrsquos journey to Islam and his reflections on traditionalIslamic themes

Kamali Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic JurisprudenceCambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991The best available work in English on the Islamic understandingof the principles underlying Islamic jurisprudence

Khadduri Majid The Islamic Conception of Justice BaltimoreMD Johns Hopkins University Press 1984A detailed study on the basis of the most authentic Islamicsources of justice in Islam from a political theological philo-

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M338

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 338

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

sophical and ethical perspective including the question of jus-tice among nations social justice and changing conceptions ofjustice among some Muslims under modern conditions

Lings Martin Muhammad His Life Based on the EarliestSources Cambridge Islamic Texts Society 1991 New YorkInner Traditions 1983The best biography of the Prophet in English based on tradi-tional Islamic sources written with great elegance and narrativepower

Murata Sachiko The Tao of Islam Albany State University ofNew York 1992A unique work using the Far Eastern yin and yang to explaingender relationships in Islam on both the spiritual and the sociallevel

Murata Sachiko and William Chittick The Vision of Islam NewYork Paragon House 1994An exposition of all the major facets of Islam and Islamicthought on the basis of the h adıth of Gabriel in which themeaning of islam ıman and ih san are explained

Nasr Seyyed Hossein Ideals and Realities of Islam ChicagoABC International Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic TextsSociety 2001Deals from the traditional point of view with the major aspectsof Islam including the Quran the Prophet the Law the spiritualpath and Sunnism and Shılsquoism

mdashmdashmdash Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Chicago ABC In-ternational Group 2001 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society2002Deals with both metaphysical and existential questions arisingfrom the encounter between Islam and modernism

mdashmdashmdash Traditional Islam in the Modern World London KeganPaul International 1990A clarification of the differences between traditional modernistand so-called fundamentalist Islam and an elucidation of variousaspects of traditional Islam

Bibliography 339

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 339

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

mdashmdashmdash A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern World ChicagoKazi Publications 1996 Cambridge Islamic Texts Society1994A summary of the teachings of Islam and various aspects ofWestern civilization and the manner in which young Muslimsmust face the challenges of the modern world

mdashmdashmdash ed Islamic Spirituality Foundations New York Cross-road 1989Contains numerous seminal essays on basic aspects of Islamicspirituality by some of the leading scholars from both the Islamicworld and the West

Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke The Meaning of the GloriousKoran Many editionsOne of the most widely read renditions of the Quran in Englishone that also received the approval of leading Islamic religiousauthorities at the time of its appearance before World War II

Renard John Seven Doors to Islam Spirituality and the Reli-gious Life of Muslims Berkeley University of California Press1996A perceptive introduction to the inner meaning of Islamthrough seven different doors leading to the inner courtyard ofthe religion

Schimmel Annemarie And Muhammad Is His Messenger Lon-don and Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press1985The only work in English that explains through various Islamicliterary texts the veneration of the Prophet and his role in Is-lamic piety

mdashmdashmdash Islam An Introduction Albany State University ofNew York 1992A succinct account of the different basic teachings of Islamwritten with much love and empathy

Schuon Frithjof Understanding Islam Bloomington INWorld Wisdom Books 1994The most profound work on the inner meaning of Islam and itsrelation to other religions ever written by a Western author

T H E H E A R T O F I S L A M340

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 340

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Sells Michael Approaching the Qurrsquoan The Early RevelationsAshland OR White Cloud Press 1999Highly poetical renditions into English of selections from theQuran that bring out some of the literary quality of the originaltext

T abatabarsquoı lsquoAllamah The Quran in Islam London Routledgeamp Kegan Paul 1987A short but masterly work on the significance of the Quran andthe manner in which to study it by the author of the most mon-umental commentary written on the Quran in the twentiethcentury

Bibliography 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 341

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 342

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

About the Author

Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran

Iran in 1933 He received his advanced education at

MIT and Harvard University returning to teach at

Tehran University from 1958-1979 where he also

served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Vice Chan-

cellor He founded the Iranian Academy of Philosophy

and served as its first president and was also for several

years president of Aryamehr University Since 1984 he

has been University Professor of Islamic Studies at

George Washington University in Washington DC and

President of the Foundation for Traditional Studies

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 343

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

Also by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

A Young Muslimrsquos Guide to the Modern WorldAn Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

Ideals and Realities of IslamIslammdashReligion History and Civilization

Islam and the Plight of Modern ManIslamic Art and Spirituality

Islamic Life and ThoughtIslamic SciencemdashAn Illustrated Study

Knowledge and the SacredMan and NaturemdashThe Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man

MuhammadmdashMan of GodReligion and the Order of NatureScience and Civilization in Islam

Sufi EssaysThe Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

The Need for a Sacred ScienceThree Muslim Sages

Traditional Islam in the Modern World

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 344

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

All translations of poetry are by S H Nasr unless other-wise noted

THE HEART OF ISLAM Enduring Values for HumanityCopyright copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr All rights re-served under International and Pan-American CopyrightConventions By payment of the required fees you havebeen granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right toaccess and read the text of this e-book on-screen Nopart of this text may be reproduced transmitted down-loaded decompiled reverse engineered or stored in orintroduced into any information storage and retrievalsystem in any form or by any means whether electronicor mechanical now known or hereinafter invented with-out the express written permission of PerfectBoundtrade

ldquoCivilizational Dialogue and the Islamic Worldrdquo copy-right copy 2002 by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

PerfectBound trade and the PerfectBoundtrade logo are trade-marks of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Adobe Acrobat E-Book Reader edition v 1 October2002 ISBN 0-06-051665-8

Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollinsPublishers Inc

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 345

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346

About the Publisher

AustraliaHarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)Pymble NSW 2073 Australia httpwwwharpercollinscomau

CanadaHarperCollins Publishers Ltd55 Avenue Road Suite 2900Toronto ON M5R 3L2 Canadahttpwwwharpercanadacom

New ZealandHarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) LimitedPO Box 1Auckland New Zealandhttpwwwharpercollinsconz

United KingdomHarperCollins Publishers Ltd77-85 Fulham Palace RoadLondon W6 8JB UKhttpwwwfireandwatercom

United StatesHarperCollins Publishers Inc10 East 53rd StreetNew York NY 10022 httpwwwperfectboundcom

Please visit wwwperfectboundcom for free e-book samplers of PerfectBound titles

biblio3qxd 81502 1236 PM Page 346