Introduction to Islam
This document is an introduction to Islam and, very briefly, to the other documents in this section. I spend a day on Sufism and its poetry and teachings about love. Ali Shari'ati (1933-1977) was an Iranian sociologist who played an important role in the Iranian revolution. And the "Open Letter to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI" shows something of the state of dialogue between Muslims and Christians. I recommend that, before reading it, you review the lecture that was the occasion of worldwide protests ranging from violent to moderate: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg_en.html
"Islam" means "submission," namely to God. The word connotes the peace that comes from submitting to the will of God. A Muslim is a person who accepts Islam.
The principal teachings of Islam come from the Qur'an, a book said to be a revelations from God, given through the angel Gabriel, to the prophet Muhammad (570-632). Secondary teachings derive from the hadiths, traditions that preserve, more or less accurately, what Muhammad said and did.
Muhammad grew up in Mecca in Arabia at a time when the dominant form of social organization was the clan, and the warrior ideal involved fighting to preserve the honor of one's clan. There were some Jews and Christians there then, but the dominant religion was polytheistic. Muhammad early lost his parents and was raised by his grandfather and then by his uncle. He was an honest and trustworthy businessman in the employ of a woman Khadijah (perhaps fifteen years older) who became his wife. The revelatory angelic visitations began near Mecca, and during the early years of his prophetic mission, Muhammad powerfully preached a clear message of the oneness of God and the need for righteous living. He had few early followers and much opposition. He was called to become the civil leader of Medina, whence he fled in migration (hijrah) in 622, the year from which Muslims date their (lunar) calendar. After years of fighting with Mecca, Muhammad and his warriors prevailed in 630 and accepted the city's surrender with mercy. Two years later, the prophet died.
The "five pillars" of Islam
To declare that there is no god except God, and that Muhammad is the messenger of God.
To pray and worship, typically, five times a day.
To give alms, normally one fortieth of all that you have (not income) each year.
To observe the fast of Ramadan--abstaining from food and drink and sex from sunrise to sunset one month a year.
To make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in your life, if possible.
Here are some statements about the early history of Islam. The first section has quotations taken from Frederick M. Denny, Islam and the Muslim Community (Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, 1987).
"Before the rise of Islam, the values of the Arabs centered in the honor of the family, clan, and tribe, honor that was to be defended at all costs. This honor was maintained within a context of manliness that expressed itself in martial skills and acts of valor. Manliness was also a kind of nobility of character, evidenced in hospitality and generosity. It was a combination of physical strength, moral courage, and a sense of one's own genealogical superiority." (21)
"The Islamic movement arose in Arabia in the seventh century C.E. and declared itself to be a restoration of the original monotheism of the Semitic patriarch Abraham, who was, as the Qur'an states, a righteous person and a prophet who established the proper worship of God at the Ka'ba sanctuary in Mecca. In Islamic teaching, Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but a person of pure faith and a Mulsim (Qur'an 3:68). The Qur'an affirms its spiritual pedigree in unmistakable terms. "We believe in God, and that which has been send down on us, and send down on Abraham and Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob, and the Tribes, and in that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and the Prophets, of their Lord: we make no division between any of them, and to Him we surrender" (3:85). According to the Qur'an, the Jews and Christians received true guidance from God and sometimes followed it in a mode of authentic surrender--islam--but more often they split up into sects and corrupted the messages of their prophets. Thus God, in his mercy, restored his original message in the Qur'an, the "recitation," which he revealed to Muhammad in plain Arabic speech." (18-19)
"Islam is a complete way of life embracing beliefs and devotional practices within a larger context of regulated social relations, economic responsibilities and privileges, political ideals, and community loyalties. Muslims inhabit at least two cultural spheres, the one they were born into and nurtured by and the one acquired as Islamic identity." (6)
"Because Islam is a religion of law and recognizes no sharp cleavage between religious and secular matters, it views all things as under God's legislation. Not all aspects of life are relevant to ritual, but they all have been assigned value by Islamic law on a scale from "forbidden" through "indifferent" to "obligatory" [there is also "discouraged" and "recommended"]. The holy law is known as Shari'a, from an Arabic word which means "way," such as the way to the water hole. Shari'a does not literally mean "law"; rather, it means God's ordaining of the right way for his faithful creatures, a way that includes actual law." (8)
"The teaching and example of Muhammad, known as his Sunna, exemplify the ways in which humans are to receive, ingrain, and apply the message of God. In a real sense, then, the Qur'an tells humans what to believe, and the Sunna instructs them in how to believe and act." (16)
After the death of Mohammad in 632, Abu Bakr, his friend and companion, was chosen as caliph (successor); Shi’ites believe that his son in law, Ali, was the true successor. Abu Bakr led from 632 to 634; then came Omar, 634-44. The Ommayad Caliphate lasted until 750. Omar was pious and a good general and administrator; he united the Arab chieftans.
The Arabs conquered the Middle East (Damascus was their capital by 715, but Byzantium withstood a siege, 717-18), North Africa, and Spain (711-715), and penetrated into France, where they were defeated in 732 at the battle of Tours. The Turks got them out of Iran in 715.
They established garrison cities of Arabs under tribal leaders; the warriors were supported by taxes from the population at large.
The caliphs had three duties—to balance the rival Arab chieftains, to manage the Roman/Persian style bureaucracy for tax revenues, and to serve as religious leaders. They were not good Muslims. For a time anyone converting to Islam did not need to pay taxes, but this proved uneconomical, and converts were not socially accepted by the Arabs.
In 744 civil war came, and the Abbasid caliphate, with its capital at Baghdad, took over, adopting a more Persian style. Tribal ties were important in Arabia, but not elsewhere. The Arabs blended into the native population, taking prominent positions in the societies where Islam had penetrated. The Abbasids used an imperial style of bureaucracy supported by mercenaries. Political rule was in the hands of a single distant caliph; the religious leadership was left to experts, the ulema (“mullas”).
Directives for daily living came from (1) the Qur’an, (2) information about what Mohammad said and did, (3) traditions about his companions (which could be applied to other situations by analogy), and the consensus of the community of believers. Unchanging law resulted from these sources, prescribed in great detail. The Shi’a tradition follows Ali and waits for the return of a true caliph who would take revenge against those who had perverted the true faith. The majority, the Sunnis, were more tolerant of other religious groups. The Abbasids expected the other communities, e.g., Jewish and Christian, to order the lives of their people. No partial acceptance of Islam was possible; either a person had to accept it all or reject it. Arabic became the lingua franca.
Around the caliph’s court a lifestyle was available with poetry, wine, and diverse cultural and emotional refinements—an aristocratic life.
Despite the doctrine that all truth is in the Qur’an, Ptolemy (for astrologers) and Galen (for physicians) were among the Greek influences welcomed in the court. The Arabs appropriated and advanced Greek science; they picked up the decimal system and developed algebra; they advanced chemistry (with an associated philosophy of alchemy) through learning new processes for distillation, heating and dissolving; they made new chemical syntheses and began the grinding of lenses.
The Abbasid Empire was outstanding in science, philosophy, religion, and government; it was rich and complex. It was weakened by Shia’ revolt after 800 and by the Turks who took over Baghdad, leading to a breakdown of central control. Finally, by 1000, the mystics (sufis) became important in the realm of Islam.
The equality and complementarity of men and women
In response to a question about the status of women in Islam, a Muslim could make use of the philosophical distinction between (1) spiritual equality and (2) biological, psychological, or sociological complementarity in order to develop .
Islam proclaims the equality of women with men; their human nature, spiritual standing before God, and destiny are the same.
Islam clearly proclaims the complementarity of men and women—their roles are different. It takes only a modest degree of philosophic complexity to be able to accommodate both equality and complementarity, despite the fact that most people see them as mutually exclusive. To be sure, equality may be defined in ways that suppress human and divinely ordained complementarity, and complementarity may be defined in ways that betray equality. Perhaps only revelation can sort these matters out properly—but then we still have the challenge of interpreting and applying that revelation in our own place and time.
In addition, the following ideas are mentioned in Muslim responses to this question.
3. Abuses by Muslims are not to be blamed on Islam, but on lack of individual development and on cultural backwardness.
4. Four wives? The Qur’an stipulates that each must be equally loved. That was possible for Mohammed and his companions, but if that is impossible for men today, then the requirement of equal love amounts to a requirement of monogamy. War made for a shortage of males at that time to keep the population going.
5. The Qur’an raised the status of women from its prior condition in Arabia.
6. The head covering for women is optional. Standards for appropriately modest dress for women (partly a consideration for men) vary.
Jihad: striving and war
1. Jihad means striving, effort. One's primary striving is the inner striving to do the will of God, to acquire a righteous character.
2. No religion glorifies war. Every religion proclaims peace. Most religions acknowledge that war is sometimes necessary. When war is necessary, the term jihad applies to it also. War is in defense of Islam is justified.
3. The Western and especially Christian tradition has a long history of developing its “just war” doctrine. Martyrs are promised heavenly rewards in the Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism, and in some Jewish and Christian writings as well.
4. There is no support in the Qur’an for the idea that we occasionally hear of about the seventy virgins that are promised as a heavenly reward for men who die in battle.
5. We should not imagine that Islam approves of suicide or of attacks on non-combatants.
6. Terry Waite, a hostage for six years in Lebanon, distinguished three types of people who would do such things: (a) thugs; (b) people with legitimate grievances that could be negotiated and worked out; (c) religious fanatics. In some cases more than one of these characteristics may apply in some proportion. Should we refuse to consider, in such cases, what legitimate grievances there may be?
The recognition of Jesus in Islam
The following paragraphs are quoted from “The Islamic Tradition” by Mahmoud M. Ayoub (in Williard G. Oxtoby, ed., World Religions: Western Traditions, p. 366).
“Jesus is presented in the Qur’an as a miracle in himself. His virgin birth, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and even raising the dead are seen as life-giving miracles. They are meant to affirm God’s creative and life-giving power against the denial by many Jews and non-Jews of his time of the resurrection and life to come. Furthermore, they are performed at a time when Greek medicine, science, and philosophy question the sovereignty, power, and wisdom of God as the sole creator and Lord of the universe. The miracles of Jesus therefore serve to assert the power of God over human science and wisdom.
“The Qur’an presents Jesus as a messenger of God to the children of Israel with the message: ‘God is surely my Lord and your Lord. Worship him, therefore; this is the straight way’ (Q. 3.51). For Muslims, particularly the mystics, Jesus is an example of a world-renouncing ascetic, a wandering prophet with stern piety but deep compassion for the poor, suffering, and oppressed, whoever they may be. He has no home or possessions; ‘his mount was his two feet and his servant his two hands.’
“Jesus is a great prophet for Muslims, but the Qur’an categorically denies his divinity and divine sonship (see Q. 5:116, 19:34-5, and 5:17 and 72). His role extends far beyond his earthly existence as a prophet into sacred history. Jesus, the Qur’an insists, did not die, but was lifted up by God to heaven (Q. 4:157-8). He is to return at the end of time as ‘a sign of the knowledge of the Hour [that is, the Day of Resurrection]’ (Q 43:61). He shall kill the anti-Christ (al-Dajjal, the deceiver), and establish true Islam on earth.
"Each prophet must, in accordance with God’s covenant with all prophets, prepare for and support the prophet to come after him. Thus Jesus in the Qur’an announces the coming of Muhammad, saying, ‘O children if Israel, I am the messenger of God to you, confirming the Torah that was before me, and announcing a messenger who shall come after me whose name is Ahmad’” (Q. 61.6).Q.
Reflections
Sometimes people speak of "the God of the Qur'an" as different from "the God of the Bible" in order to say, "They worship a different God." It could also be said that that the God of the books of Samuel and Kings or the book of James differs from the God of the Gospel according to John--in the sense that the concepts of the nature of God that emerge in these texts are distinguishably different. Nevertheless if one refers to "the Creator of the heavens and the earth," it is agreed that there is one God. It is in this sense that Jews, Christians, and Muslims worship the same God.
From my 2002 address to The Ohio Academy of Religion, "Religious experience, fanaticism, and Kant" (http://www.personal.kent.edu/~jwattles/relexprk.htm) come these conclusions about world peace.
World peace requires peace between religions; and some of Immanuel Kant’s ideas about working toward world peace can be adapted to the problem of interreligious peace. Kant (1724-1804) sketched essentials of a workable vision of planetary progress in two essays, “Idea for a History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View,” and “Perpetual Peace.” Kant’s story of the gradual nature of historical progress includes a critique of the moral fanatic whose impatience frustrates the achievement of his own goals. Parallel to Kant’s guiding idea about the evolution of political sovereignty leading to world peace is a guiding idea for religious peace. The proposal is that peace in the religious world requires that religions accord sovereignty to God alone, and not attempt to exercise sovereignty over one another.
I focus here on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. They characteristically proclaim God as the Creator, the sovereign of the universe and of this world—its past, present, and future. God not only transcends human understanding, but God also uses human language to reveal his will and his way to us. God speaks through the prophets, and the scriptures are a treasure-chest of these revelations. Belief in something as revelation has a marvelous capacity to focalize human religious loyalties and also a tendency to promote intolerance, which can turn to persecution and religious war.
It is plausible that Jews and Christians and Muslims could readily agree that God alone is sovereign. It is not so easy to see, however, what is involved in relinquishing the idea of sovereignty over other religions.
The word sovereign means: not subject to any other; supreme; dominant.
If a religion assumes it is superior to all others and if it claims exclusive authority over other religions, then the stage is set for trouble.
If religions exist in freedom and equality and acknowledge no higher sovereignty over themselves, then they will sooner or later fall into the temptation to try out their power to prevail over others.
Is this requirement for peace logically possible? Does it mean that a believer must not regard his or her doctrine as superior to any other doctrine that directly contradicts it? This would be an intellectual impossibility. But the proposal does not require intellectual or theological uniformity. Religion is deeper than theology. The riverbed is not the river. The institutions and doctrines of religion are not the flowing stream of spiritual life itself. Religion activates living relationships with God and with all creation in the light of the primary relationship with God. The water that flows in one riverbed is not superior to the water that flows elsewhere.
Is psychologically possible for people to experience religious peace? The proposal is based on an appeal to which all monotheistic traditions would easily agree; but it involves a requirement which is subtle and at times elusive in its psychological demands. We are all too ready to play the “Mine is better than yours” game. For example, we, who understand the need for tolerance, are better than those others. Having organized many conferences of world religions, again and again I saw the same result: without pressure to agree with one another, after a few minutes of slight awkwardness, the majority of panelists were caught up in a spiritual unity that was so evident that the audience could see the light in their eyes, could feel the dance of their sharing. People did not maintain themselves in ironclad religious identities; they enjoyed a smorgasbord of the spirit. They focused on goals, not creeds. And there was one rule: that there be no attack on other religions.
One helpful thing would be to use a more differentiated vocabulary when characterizing religious believers. The term fundamentalist should be used to indicate a conservative theological position, which does not necessarily involve fanaticism or intolerance. The term enthusiastic could be used to characterize supreme personal devotion. Let the term fanatic denote a mindset where religious ideals are exalted in isolation from the scientific mental attitude, from a critical philosophy, from beauty in nature and the arts, and from diverse types of spiritual experience. We might use the term evangelistic to describe those who proclaim, even aggressively, the message of salvation of their particular religious group. And we need a different term from each of these to name an imperialist disposition that is intolerant of other religions and seeks domination. Moreover, someone could be an active defender of his or her tradition without being aggressive. And hostility is a psychological disposition, a propensity toward violence, independent of each of these other characteristics. There are no necessary connections between these concepts, but it is common to lump them together.
Link
A website with particular strength in Sufism is that of Professor Godlas of the University of Georgia: http://www.uga.edu/islam/