Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Roger Allen is professor emeritus of Arabic and comparative literature in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania. His other books include The Arabic Novel and The Arabic Literary Heritage. Visit the University of Pennsylvania website for more information about him.

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ISLAM

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Contents

Foreword, by Bruce B. Lawrence........................................................ixEditors' Preface......................................................................xiiiAcknowledgments.......................................................................xvNote to Readers.......................................................................xvii1. Islam Shawkat M. Toorawa..........................................................32. Qur'an Roger Allen................................................................213. Muhammad Tahera Qutbuddin.........................................................284. Hadith and Sunna Scott C. Lucas...................................................385. Shari'a Aron Zysow................................................................436. Islamic Philosophy Jon McGinnis...................................................527. Sufism Ahmet T. Karamustafa.......................................................618. Shi'ites, Shi'ism Abdulaziz Sachedina.............................................689. Sunnis, Sunnism Scott C. Lucas....................................................7710. Mosque Ruba Kana'an..............................................................8711. Islamic Government Joseph E. Lowry...............................................9512. Women and Islam Homayra Ziad.....................................................10513. Islam and Judaism Mark S. Wagner.................................................11614. Islam and Christianity Paul Löffler and Mark N. Swanson.....................12615. Islam in America Jane I. Smith...................................................135Glossary..............................................................................140Bibliography for Further Viewing and Reading..........................................150Contributors..........................................................................167Index.................................................................................169

Chapter One

Shawkat M. Toorawa

Islam — in Arabic, literally, "submission" or "surrender" (to the will of God) — is a monotheistic religion professed by over 1.5 billion people worldwide. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims. South Asia (Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan) is home to some 480 million Muslims, and a similar number are to be found in North Africa, the Middle East, Iran, Turkey, and central Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa has some 240 million Muslims (with large populations in Nigeria and Ethiopia), and Southeast Asia has 220 million Muslims (principally in Indonesia, and also Malaysia). The remaining 600 million or so are scattered across the globe, including 16 million in Russia and 20 million in China. Though not significant in number, the Muslims of western Europe (10 million) and North America (3.5 million) wield considerable symbolic and intellectual power in contemporary discourses in and about Islam. The desire of Muslim women to wear the head covering (the hijâb) in France and Germany, for instance, has seriously tested those countries' purportedly unswerving commitment to freedom of expression and of religion. And scholars of Islam, both Muslim and non-Muslim, in the United States and England in particular, have contributed to a rethinking (some would say reformation) in their discussions about Islamic law and practice. Muslims in North America, many of whom are professionals, exert considerable influence on Muslims in other parts of the world through their wealth and resources (see "Islam in America," chapter 15). But it remains true that many of the areas where Islam has spread have inherited legacies of colonialism (e.g., most of the Middle East), state oppression (e.g., China, with anywhere from 20 million to 150 million Muslims), and economic hardship (e.g., in Africa); it is also true that the majority of Muslims are poor and have limited access to food, water, resources, health care, education, and self-determination. These severe constraints have inevitably shaped the desires and actions of many predominantly Muslim countries and some of their inhabitants.

* * *

Beginnings

As in other religions, Muslims run the gamut, from extremely devout to lapsed, from extremist to ultraliberal, from converted to merely cultural, and of course everything in between. Virtually all self-identifying Muslims are bound together, however, by an acknowledgment of the existence of one God (a notion called tawhîd in Arabic) and by belief in the divine origin of the Qur'an as God's speech (see "Qur'an," chapter 2) and in the ministry of the Prophet Muhammad (see "Muhammad," chapter 3). Muhammad, son of 'Abdallah, was born in the pilgrimage and trading town of Mecca in about 570 into the influential Quraysh tribe, who were custodians of the Ka'ba, an ancient cube-shaped shrine. Muhammad's father died before he was born and his mother died when he was six years old; thereafter, the child was raised by his grandfather, and later his uncle, Abû-Tâlib. A trader known for his honesty and integrity, Muhammad accepted the proposal of marriage from his wealthy widowed employer, Khadîja, when he was twenty-five years old and she perhaps as old as forty. Their close, loving relationship during their twenty-five-year marriage and Muhammad's affection for his four daughters — no sons survived infancy — are described by many, including Western feminists, as the basis for Muhammad's egalitarian stances on gender. It is certainly the case that Islam enfranchised women by granting them rights and autonomy hitherto denied to them in any political or religious system (see "Women and Islam," chapter 12). It is also true that Muhammad's numerous marriages, after Khadîja's death, form the basis for many detractors' criticisms of Islam's patrilineal regulations and acceptance of polygamy (if under stringent conditions). It should be pointed out, however, that the patriarchal practices in many societies that embraced Islam are blamed on Islam itself: Muhammad's decision to marry an older, twice-widowed woman, for example, is nowhere emulated today, because of cultural and social values unconnected to Islam, in spite of the religious imperative to emulate Muhammad in all ways possible (see below).

Although the form of the initial revelations Muhammad received from God through the archangel Gabriel — a strongly rhythmic, rhyming prose — resembled the pronouncements of local Arabian oracles, this message was not mundane, but centered rather on belief in the One God (in Arabic, Allâh), on charitable acts, on right action, and on preparation for the Day of Judgment. One early revelation states:

In the Name of God, Full of Compassion, Ever Compassionate By Time, endless, Humanity is assuredly in a state of loss, Except for those who believe, perform righteous acts, mutually enjoin Truth and mutually enjoin Steadfastness.

These revelations — the Qur'ân, literally "Recitation" — made it clear that God wanted to impart throughMuhammad to the Arabs and to the world the same revelation God had imparted throughNoah (Nûh) to his people, through Abraham (Ibrâhîm) to the inhabitants of Ur, and through Moses (Mûsâ) and Jesus ('Îsâ) to the Jews. The Qur'an refers to...