islam: an introduction to religion, culture, and history

8/12/2019 Islam: An introduction to Religion, Culture, and History

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Islam An Introduction toReligion, Culture, and History

James A. Beverley


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To my brother Bob BeverleyWith much love and admiration

by James A. Beverley All righ s reserved. No por ion o his book may be reproduced, s ored in a re rievalsys em, or ransmited in any orm or by any meanselec ronic, mechanical, pho-

ocopy, recording, scanning, or o herexcep or brie quo a ions in cri ical reviewsor ar icles, wi hou he prior writen permission o he publisher.Published in Nashville, ennessee, by Tomas Nelson. Tomas Nelson is a regis ered

rademark o Tomas Nelson, Inc.Book design and composi ion by Upper Case ex ual Services, Lawrence,Massachusets.Tomas Nelson, Inc., i les may be purchased in bulk or educa ional, business, und-raising, or sales promo ional use. For in orma ion, please e-mail SpecialMarke [email protected] o Congress Ca aloging-in-Publica ion da a is available. ISBN - - -

- - - - Paperback Printed in the United States of America

[ Prin er Code ]


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Contents

Pre ace o he Second Edi ion viiPre ace o he Firs Edi ion xi

1. Islam 12. Muhammad 11

3. Quran 214. Muslims 335. Women 516. Jihad, errorism, and Sep ember 11 637. Pales ine 758. A Chris ian Response o Islam 87

9. Now Wha ? 93 Appendix A: Key Da es 97Glossary 105Frequen ly Asked Ques ions Abou Islam 109Bibliography and Addi ional Resources 113


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IslamThe Nature of Islam

One ou o every six people on ear h is Muslim, a ollower oIslam, he second larges religion in he world, nex o Chris iani y.Islam has been a religious, cul ural, and poli ical orce since heseven h cen ury AD. oday i plays a dominan role in he MiddleEas and large sec ions o A rica and Asia.

The Four Foundations of Islam

As in all religions, Islam has a core, an essence, a sor o DNAha has de ned he religion rom he beginning. Te bes way o

begin o grasp his basic and undamen al iden i y is o recognizeour absolu ely key reali ies in he ai h o all Muslims. Tese keys

o unders anding he Muslim ai h are he same or all groups wi hin Islam.

Allah

Wha is absolu ely primary in Islam is a o al belie in Allah( he Arabic erm or God ha is also used by Arabic-speaking Jewsand Chris ians), Muslims believe wi h convic ion ha here is one


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2 Islam: An In roduc ion o Religion, Cul ure, and His ory

supreme crea or, an in ni e, e ernal power who can do all hingsand knows all hings.

According o Muslims, Allah is he per ec , wise, merci ul, and jus guide who holds all humans accoun able or heir deeds, bo hgood and bad. All o his is cap ured in he rs verses o he Quran(Koran is he ormer English erm), he Muslim scrip ure. In hename o Allah, Mos Gracious, Mos Merci ul. Praise be o Allah,

he Cherisher and Sus ainer o he Worlds. ( : ). I con inues:Mas er o he Day o Judgmen . You do we worship, and Your aid we seek. Show us he s raigh way ( : ).

Muhammad

Muslims also believe ha Allah has spoken o he world hroughMuhammad, he seal ( nal and grea es ) Prophe . Te vas majori yo Muslims believe ha Muhammad (who died in AD ) wassinless. Every area o Islamic li e is paterned afer wha Muhammad

augh , wha he did, how he dressed, how he responded o hrea s,and wha he said had been revealed o him by Allah.

Te reverence and adula ion o Muhammad is hard o overs a e,hough Muslims do no believe he was divine. However, hose who

cas aspersions on he prophe are in ex reme danger, as SalmanRushdie, he Indian-born Muslim, discovered when he wro e TeSa anic Verses. Te Iranian Aya ollah Khomeini issued a dea h orderon him because he hough Rushdie had slandered Muhammad.

Quran

Fur her, he Quran is absolu ely undamen al o all Muslims.Tis is he Holy Book. Muslims believe he Quran was revealed oMuhammad and is he li eral, ac ual Word o Allah. I should bereci ed in Arabic, he original language, should be memorized ands udied, bu never ques ioned as an ul ima e source o au hori y.


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Islam 3

Islamic views on every hing are de ermined by wha he Quransays or by wha can be deduced rom i s general eachings. Tus,

polygamy is accep able o Muslims because he Quran says so.Some Muslims believe women mus be veiled because o an in er-pre a ion o one passage ha demands modes y. In some coun ries wi h Islamic law he hand o a hie is ampu a ed because he Quransays his is o be he punishmen . Muslims have cer ain views abou Jesus because o eachings in he Quran.

Law

Islam is also a religion o law. While every ai h has generalprinciples, some groups like like Or hodox Judaism and RomanCa holicism have elabora e rules. In Islam, Shariah (SHAR rih ah)law ex ends o every area o li e, including how Muslim na ions are

o obey Gods will.Te his ory o Islamic jurisprudence is very long and compli-

ca ed, especially afer Islam experienced a serious division ol-

lowing he dea h o Muhammad. Basically, Islamic law is derivedrs rom he Quran, and hen rom he example (sunnah) oMuhammad. When nei her he Quran nor he Prophe s li e and

eachings speak direc ly on issues, mos Muslim legal au hori iesdepend on reason and consensus o ormula e ei her new laws or judgmen s based on he massive codes o law given in he hreecen uries afer Muhammads dea h.

Te scope o shariah law is amazing o mos non-Muslims. Con-

sider, or example, some o he maters addressed in Islamic Laws, writen by Aya ullah al Uzama Sye Ali-al-Husaini Sees ani, a amous judge in Iran. He provides rulings (known as fatwas) on housandso opics, including: ( ) wha direc ion should be aced when using

he ba hroom, ( ) when swallowing hick dus makes as ing void,and ( ) how much is owed Allah in almsgiving i a Muslim ownssix y-one camels.


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The Five Pillars of Islam

Jus as he en Commandmen s shape Judaism, he ve pillarso Islam cons i u e core paterns o ai h or mos Muslims.

Confession

Te primary pillar is a con ession o ai h known as heshaha-dah , which reads: Tere is no God bu Allah, and Muhammadis His prophe . Devou Muslims repea his s a emen several

imes each day.

Prayer

Te second pillar involves he discipline o prayer (salat ) andhe call or all Muslims o pray a ve speci c imes every day, ac

ing Mecca, he holies ci y. In radi ional Islamic cul ures, he callo prayer, resounding rom he minare s ( owers) o he mosques

(houses o worship), brings all o her ac ivi y o a hal .

Sunni Schools of Law

School Founder % of Muslim world under school

Hana Imam Abu Hanifa 45% (699767 CE) from Iraq

Sha i Imam al Sha i 28% (767820 CE) from Medina

Maliki Imam Malik 15%

(711795) CE from MedinaHanbali Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal 2% (780855 CE) from Iraq


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Islam 5

Giving

Tis hird pillar is known as zakat . Te zakat is collec ed by aew Muslim s a es, bu mos Muslims give hrough leaving money

in he me al zakat box in heir local mosque. Te money is usedo help he poor and or emergency si ua ions. Te zakat involves

giving . percen o a Muslims asse s, bu i is no chari y since is an obliga ory ac , one ha is usually o be done in priva e.

Fasting

Muslims are o in ensi y heir spiri ual ocus hrough he ourpillarsawm ( as ing), rom sunup o sundown during he en iremon h o Ramadan ( he nin h mon h in he Islamic calendar).Unless prohibi ed by poor heal h, Muslims are o abs ain romall ood, wa er, and sexual ac ivi y rom sunrise o sunse during

he mon h o Ramadan. Te as offers a ime or spiri ual re ec-ion, repen ance, and giving o he poor. Te whole Quran is ofen

reci ed in evening worship over he hir y-day period. Ramadanends wi h a hree-day eas .

Pilgrimage

Te fh pillar, known as hehajj , is he command or all able- bodied Muslims o make a pilgrimage o Mecca a leas once in hisor her li e ime. Every year million Muslim pilgrims make heir way o Mecca. Ou side he ci y bo h men and women don simple

whi e garmen s, and en er Mecca while reci ing Here I am a yourservice, O God, here I am! Tey circle seven imes around heKaaba, he emple buil by Abraham and Ishmail. Te pilgrimsengage in a ri ual o running be ween wo moun ains ou side oMecca, in memory o he pligh o Hagar looking or ood and wa er. Muslims also hrow s ones a a pillar ha symbolizes Sa anand sacri ce animals in memory o he s ory o Abraham and Isaac.


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Seven Other Major Beliefs

From he a oremen ioned, we know ha all ai h ul Muslims believe ha Allah is he one rue God. Tey also wan o emula eMuhammad, obey he Quran, pray, give nancially, as , ake hepilgrims journey o Mecca, and obey he law o God in all hings.Beyond hese overriding and paramoun aspec s o Islam, seveno her undamen al belie s help pain an accura e pic ure.

Islam has Existed Since Creation

Muslims believe ha Islam began long be ore Muhammad. Teyasser ha Islam s ar ed when God crea ed Adam and Eve, and haIslam was he religion o ai h ul Jews and Chris ians. So, accord-ing o Islamic radi ion, Moses was a Muslim, and Jesus was oo.

Younis Shaikh, who augh a a medical college in Pakis an, wasarres ed in Oc ober or allegedly saying ha Muhammadsparen s were no Muslims and ha Muhammad did no becomea Muslim un il he was or y.

Humans Are Not Born Sinful

Tough Muslim views are similar in some ways o Chris ianradi ion, Muslims do no believe in original sin. Tis is he con-

cep ha all human beings are born wi h a sin ul na ure. Muslimsdo believe ha Adam rebelled agains Gods law in he Garden oEden, bu here was no all o he human race, as is augh by mos

Chris ian groups. Humans are rail and weak, prone o emp a ion,obviously, bu no predisposed oward sin.

God is Sovereign

Muslims believe in he o al sovereign y o God. Islams emphasison his belie canno be overs ressed. In par s o A ghanis an, goalin soccer games are celebra ed by shou ing Allahu akbar (God


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Islam 7

is grea ). When I visi ed Kenya in , I saw a vivid display oIslamic rus in God as I visi ed a poor Muslim area. Tere, on op

o he mos meager litle home you can imagine, he owner had asign, bigger han his house, proclaiming his ai h in he grea Allah.

Everything is Predestined

Muslim heologians developed a very rigid doc rine o predes i-na ion ou o he emphasis on Allahs o al supremacy. I God is allknowing and all power ul, He mus , in some sense, be responsible

or every hing. I no hing really devia es rom His will, and Heknows he u ure, every hing mus be predes inedor so i has been argued. Some analys s o Islamic cul ure believe ha a senseo a alism has emerged as a resul o his Islamic preoccupa ion wi h predes ina ion.

The Spiritual Realm is Vast

Islam also eaches ha our universe is home o angels, devils and

spiri -beings known as jinns. Islam shares wi h Chris ian radi iona belie in Sa an or he supreme devil, an angel who chose o rebelagains Allah. Muslims also believe in angels, disembodied spiri s who obey God. Te English erm genie derives rom Muslim s oriesabou he jinn, superna ural en i ies who can do bo h good and evil.

Tere will be a Day o Judgmen . Islam has very de ni e viewsabou he Day o Judgmen . A a ime known only o Allah, he world will end. All humans will be judged by heir deeds. Humansawai ei her e ernal punishmen in he res o hell or e ernal bliss inheaven. Islam has no Ca holic no ion o purga ory, and vir ually noopenness o any idea ha all humans will even ually reach paradise.

Te Quran describes Hell explici ly:

Tose who rejec our Signs, We shall soon cas in o he Fire: asofen as heir skins are roas ed hrough, We shall change hem or


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resh skins, ha hey may as e he penal y: or God is Exal ed inPower, Wise ( : ).

Heaven is the Home of the Righteous

Muslims believe ha heaven is he e ernal home o he righ eous.I is described in he Quran as a wonder ul garden paradise, animage especially appealing o Muslims used o he sands o he

Arabian deser s. Tere will be no sin, no dea h, and no ears inheaven. Tere will be special reward or Muslim mar yrs. A ew

amous verses in he Quran promise ha ai h ul Muslim men will be rewarded by beau i ul women when hey en er paradise. For bo h men and women he Quran s a es ha he grea es bliss is

he good pleasure o Allah ( : ).

Jesus is a Muslim Prophet

Muslims claim ha Jesus is a prophe o Islam. Given he biterhos ili ies be ween Islamic and Chris ian empires in his ory, iis ofen assumed ha Muslims have no in eres in Jesus. WhileMuhammad is he chie prophe , Muslims also look o Jesus asa spiri ual guide. Ofen when Muslims speak o Jesus, hey willadd he phrase Peace Be Upon Him, jus as hey do whenMuhammads name is men ioned ei her vocally or in prin . Forshor , in wri ing you will ofen see Muhammad (PBUH) or Jesus(PBUH). Muslims also believe ha Jesus will re urn a he end o

ime o de ea he orces o he An i-Chris .Tere are signi can differences be ween Muslim and Chris ianunders andings o Jesus. Tis is mos easily seen by a lis o Muslimnega ive asser ions abou Chris ian views. For Islam, Jesus is no

he Son o God and no an incarna ion o God nor is Jesus divine.He did no die on he Cross a Calvary as a sacri ce or sin. He wasno pu in a omb ou side Jerusalem. Te Chris ian s ory o Eas er


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Islam 9

is no rue, hough Muslims do believe ha Jesus wen o heaven when He died years afer atemp s o have Him cruci ed ailed.

Muslims do agree wi h Chris iani y on he ollowing poin s: Jesus was born o he Virgin Mary, was a prophe o God, liveda holy li e, augh wi h wisdom and love, and per ormed manymiracles. Muslims also uni e wi h Chris ian radi ion in eaching

ha Jesus was persecu ed or His ai h, was opposed o idol wor-ship (as mos Jews would be), and is now in heaven.


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islam: an introduction to religion, culture, and history

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