Islam For Dummies

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Conventions Used in This Book 2 Foolish Assumptions 3 How This Book is Organized 4 Part 1: Understanding the Basics 4 Part 2: Muhammad: The Man, the Book, and Rules of Law 4 Part 3: Becoming Familiar with Muslim Daily Life 5 Part 4: Recognizing That All Muslims Aren’t the Same 5 Part 5: Considering Islam’s Concept of Abrahamic Religions 5 Part 6: The Part of Tens 5 Part 7: Appendixes 5 Icons Used in This Book 6 Where to Go From Here 6 Part 1: Understanding the Basics 7 Chapter 1: Approaching Islam 9 Getting an Overview of Islamic Origins 9 Summarizing Islamic Beliefs 10 Dividing into Branches 11 Counting the Numbers 11 Locating Islam on the World Map 12 Chapter 2: Tracing the Path of Islamic History 15 The Four Rightly Guided Caliphs 17 Choosing a successor: Abu Bakr (632–634) 18 Expanding out of Arabia: `Umar (634–644) 19 Gathering the Qur’an: `Uthman (644–656) 21 Rebelling against `Ali (656–661) 22 Expanding the state 23 The Golden Age 24 Umayyad rule (661–750) 25 Abbasid rule (750–1258) 27 Bridging the Gap 29 Three Great Later Empires 31 Ottoman Empire: The Turks 32 Safavid Empire: The Iranians 33 Mughal Empire: Islam in South Asia 35 Chapter 3: Submitting to God 37 Affirming the Unity of God: Tawhid 38 Clarifying the Terminology: Allah Equals God 40 Testifying to God’s Supremacy 41 Defining the Attributes of God 42 Loving and Knowing God 43 Invoking the 99 Names of God 44 Dividing the names into categories 45 Remembering the names 46 Chapter 4: What Muslims Believe 47 Stating the Five Essential Beliefs of Islam 47 Believing in God 49 Believing in God’s angels 50 Believing in God’s books and in God’s messengers 50 Believing in the last day and the resurrection from the tomb 52 Explaining the Faith to Non-Muslims 55 Expounding the Faith: Dealing with Difficult Faith Issues 56 Naming some theological issues 58 Defining a true Muslim 59 Relating faith to works 59 Degrees of faith 60 Anthropomorphizing God 60 Created or eternal Qur’an 60 Knowing what is good and evil 60 Rejecting Formal Creeds 61 Chapter 5: Standing Before God: Heaven and Hell 63 Understanding Other Beings beyond God and Humans 64 Gabriel and the other angels 64 Aladdin’s lamp and the jinn 67 The Devil made me do it 68 Going to Heaven or Hell: From Life to Death to Resurrection 69 Dying and the grave 69 The resurrection and the final judgment 70 Facing the unresolved issues 71 Envisioning Heaven and Hell 72 Hell and its torments 73 Heaven and its delights 74 Women and the houris in heaven and hell 74 Part 2: Muhammad: The Man, the Book, and Rules of Law 77 Chapter 6: The Prophet: Muhammad 79 Setting the Stage: Arabia before Muhammad 80 Two key cities 81 Outside the cities: The beduin 82 Arabian religious practices 82 Telling the Story of Muhammad 83 Growing up 84 Summoning the people of Mecca 86 Facing opposition 87 Establishing the community in Medina 88 A chronology from 622 to 630 90 Thinking about Muhammad Theologically 92 Messenger, prophet, and seal of the prophets 92 Comparing Muhammad with Jesus and Moses 92 Living like the beautiful example 94 Reviewing the miracles of Muhammad 94 Exploring the sinlessness of Muhammad 95 Respecting Muhammad as intercessor 95 Relating Personally to Muhammad 95 Naming Muhammad 95 Exalting Muhammad in poetry 96 Celebrating Muhammad’s birthday 97 Preserving the relics of Muhammad 97 Viewing Muhammad as the light of the world and the pole of the universe 97 Searching for the Historical Muhammad 97 Traditional biographies 97 Non-Muslim biographies 98 Chapter 7: The Book: The Qur’an 99 Introducing the Qur’an 100 What is scripture? 100 The basics of the Qur’an 100 Hearing the Qur’an 101 Treating the Qur’an with Respect 103 Gathering and Organizing the Qur’an 104 Putting the Qur’an into writing 104 Pronouncing the Qur’an 104 Organizing the Qur’an 105 Compiling the Qur’an: The Muslim view 105 Compiling the Qur’an: The view of non-Muslim scholars 107 Compiling the Qur’an: A radical view 108 The Style of the Qur’an 108 The Qur’an as evocative speech 109 The idiom of the Qur’an 110 The inimitability of the Qur’an (i`jaz) 110 Recurring thematic elements in the Qur’an 111 The problem of shifting perspectives in the Qur’an 112 Interpreting the Qur’an 113 The process of interpreting the Qur’an 113 Exoteric and esoteric interpretation 113 The abrogated verses 114 Using the Qur’an in Daily Life 114 Educating through the Qur’an 115 Reciting the Qur’an 115 Reproducing the Qur’an: Calligraphy 116 Opening the Qur’an: The Fatiha 117 Chapter 8: Islamic Tradition and Law 119 Imitating Muhammad 120 Understanding the two parts of a hadith 120 Uncovering the contents of a hadith 121 Collecting the hadiths 121 Reviewing the 40 traditions 123 Evaluating the hadiths 123 Using hadiths in more modern times 124 Understanding God’s Law 125 Rooting out the four roots of law (usul al-fiqh) 125 Getting legal: The Schools of law (madhhab) 129 Making a decision 131 Reforming the law 133 Part 3: Becoming Familiar with Muslim Daily Life 137 Chapter 9: The Five Pillars of Worship: Foundations of Islam 139 Purification: Getting Ready for Worship 140 Removing impurity 141 Sources of impurity 141 The Shahada (First Pillar): Testifying 142 Salat (Second Pillar): Praying 143 When to pray 143 Where do Muslims pray? 144 Calling to prayer (adhan) 145 Doing the first rak`a (bowing) 146 Adding additional rak`as and voluntary prayers 148 Jum`a: Gathering for Friday congregational prayer 149 The mosque (masjid) 149 Zakat (Third Pillar): Helping the Needy 152 Saum (Fourth Pillar): Reflecting and Fasting 153 Dawn to dust 154 A day in Ramadan 154 The meaning of Saum during Ramadan 155 `Id al-fitr (feast of the breaking of the fast) 156 Hajj (Fifth Pillar): Making the Pilgrimage to Mecca 156 The center of the earth 157 The days of pilgrimage 158 Making the side trip to Medina (al-ziyarah) 161 Chapter 10: Observing Other Religious Rituals and Customs 163 Rituals linked to the Yearly Calendar 164 Celebrating Muhammad’s birthday 164 Typical elements in the celebration of the maulid 166 Honoring the saints 168 Reviewing other rituals 170 Marking Life’s Transitions 171 Born yesterday 171 Receiving a name 171 Offering the sacrifice 172 Circumcising (khitan) 172 Coming of age 173 Getting hitched 175 Knocking on death’s door 177 Observing Everyday Customs 179 Finding food for thought 179 Dressing the part 180 Minding your manners 182 Looking at Women’s Rituals 182 Chapter 11: Muslim Ethics: Living the Good Life 185 Reviewing the Starting Points for Islamic Ethics 186 The principles of Islamic ethics 187 Illustrative texts 188 Sources for ethical guidance 188 Dealing with sins, major and minor 189 Applying Ethics to Practical Issues 190 Understanding Sexual Ethics 190 Outlining Ethics Regarding Marriage and Family 193 The role of women 196 Medical ethics 198 Social and economic justice 199 Political issues 200 Other ethical issues 200 Part 4: Recognizing That All Muslims Aren’t the Same 203 Chapter 12: Shi`ites 205 Locating and Counting Shi`ite Muslims 206 Keeping the Faith in the Family 206 Designating `Ali as Muhammad’s successor 207 Shi`ite understanding of the imam 207 Reviewing Two Foundational Events of Shi`ism 209 The betrayal and martyrdom of `Ali 209 The martyrdom of Husayn at Karbala 210 Postscript: The march of the penitents 211 Following the Line of the 12 Imams 211 Shi`ism under the Umayyads 211 Shi`ism under the Abbasids 212 Iran becomes a Twelver Shi`ite state 213 Worshipping in Twelver Shi`ite Fashion 214 Remembering Husayn at `ashura’ 214 Making pilgrimage to the imams’ tombs 215 Some differences in Shi`ite rituals 216 Thinking like Shi`ites 216 Shi`ite religious law (shari`a) 216 Shi`ite clergy: The mullas 217 Shi`ite philosophers and theologians 218 Interacting: Shi`ites, Sufis, and Sunnis 219 Shi`ites and Sufis 219 Shi`ites and Sunnis 220 Chapter 13: Sufis 221 Searching for God 222 Sufism: An overview of its history 222 Textual and historical foundations 224 Believing in the Sufi Manner 224 Making a Contribution: Outstanding Individual Sufis 226 Organizing the Sufi Community 229 Lodges 229 The Sufi brotherhood 230 Acting in the Sufi Manner 230 Joining a Sufi brotherhood 231 Following the rules of the brotherhood 231 Remembering God: Dhikr 231 Hearing God: Sama` 232 Communal dhikr with sama` 233 Putting Faith into Verse: Sufi Literature 233 Establishing the Sufi Brotherhoods 234 Rejecting Sufism 237 Chapter 14: Exploring Lesser-Known Sects Linked to Islam 239 `Ibadis (the early Kharijites) 241 Zaydis (or Fiver Shi`ites) 241 Isma`ili (or Sevener Shi`ite) Groups 242 Qarmatians 242 Nizaris 242 Musta`li, Tayyibis, and Bohras are all the same — almost! 244 On the Fringes of Islam and Beyond 245 Druze 245 `Alawis (Nusayris) 246 Alevis 247 Ahmadiyya 248 Baha’is 249 Chapter 15: Islam in America 251 Getting an Overview 251 Looking at Muslim origins in the United States 251 Snapshot of American Muslims today 252 Calculating the numbers 253 Organizing the Muslim Community 254 Building mosques (masjids) 254 Establishing national Islamic organizations 255 Reestablishing a Black Muslim Community 256 Noble Drew Ali 256 Wallace D Fard 257 Elijah Muhammad 258 Malcolm X 258 Warith Deen Mohammed 259 Reviving the Nation of Islam 260 Shi`ites in America 261 Sufis in America 261 Facing the Future as Muslim Americans 262 Internal issues 262 External issues 264 Part 5: Considering Islam’s Concept of Abrahamic Religions 265 Chapter 16: Seeking Common Roots: Abrahamic Religion and Beyond 267 Belonging to the Same Family 267 Recognizing the same ancestor 268 Worshipping the same God 268 Sharing the same book 269 Reviewing family relations 269 Reading the Bible in the Qur’an 270 Why the stories in the Qur’an differ from those in the Bible 271 The Adam story 272 Abraham, Lot, Ishmael, and Isaac 272 Joseph: The “most beautiful of stories” 273 The Moses story 274 The death of Jesus 275 Muhammad in the Bible 276 Muslims Facing Other Religions 277 Two early treaties 277 Dhimmi (protected peoples) 278 Moving Toward Religious Dialogue 279 Principles of dialogue 280 The future of inter-religious relations 281 Chapter 17: Seeking Common Ground 283 Ascertaining Muslims’ Concerns 284 Uncovering internal problems in the Muslim world 284 Taking the pulse of the Muslim world 285 Listing Muslim complaints against the West and possible Western responses 286 Listing concerns of American Muslims 287 Hearing American Concerns Regarding Muslims 288 Facing the Major Issues 290 Clash of civilizations 290 Human rights 290 Democracy and Islam 291 Jihad 292 Terrorism 293 Knowing What’s Needed from the Muslim Side 294 Knowing What’s Needed from the Western Side 294 Chapter 18: Meeting the Challenge of Modernity 295 Considering Islamic Democracy 295 Reclaiming Identity as an Islamic State 296 Naming the Islamists 297 Leading the way: Three Islamist movements 297 Identifying what separates Islamist reformers from Islamist radicals 299 Forming a Shi`ite Islamic Republic 300 Coming of the revolution: Khomeini 300 Taking Iran in a new direction 301 Facing the future 302 Reviewing the Globalization of Islamic Radicalism: bin Laden and Afghanistan 302 Afghanistan 302 Bin Laden and al-Qaeda 304 Part 6: The Part of Tens 305 Chapter 19: Ten Muslim Contributions to World Civilization 307 Transmission of Greek Writings 308 Algebra and Mathematics 308 Arabic Numbers 309 Astronomy 309 Engineering and Technology 310 Medicine 310 Pharmacology 311 Physics, Specifically Optics 311 Architecture 312 Taj Mahal 312 The Alhambra 313 Chapter 20: Ten Noteworthy Muslims, Past and Present 315 Taking a Long Trip: Ibn Battuta 315 Gathering it All Together: al-Tabari 316 Wielding the Sword of Saladin 317 Glorifying the King: Akbar 318 Thinking Deep Thoughts: Ibn Rushd 319 Creating the First Philosophy of History: Ibn Khaldun 320 Becoming a Hero of the Revolution: Ali Shariati 321 Building Great Mosques: Sinan 322 Winning the Nobel Prize: Naguib Mahfouz 323 Listening to Umm Kulthum 323 Chapter 21: Ten Islamic Regions in the News Today 325 Africa 326 Nigeria 326 Sudan 327 Tunisia 327 South Asia 327 Bangladesh 328 India 328 Kashmir 328 Southeast Asia and the Pacific 329 Indonesia 329 Malaysia 330 Philippines 331 The Balkan States 331 Bosnia-Herzegovina 332 Kosovo and Albania 332 Iraq 332 Lebanon 333 Palestine and Israel 334 The Former Soviet Union 336 Syria 336 Turkey 337 Part 7: Appendixes 339 Appendix A: Counting the Years: The Muslim Calendar 341 Appendix B: Glossary 345 Appendix C: Resources: Digging Deeper 351 Academic Resources 351 The Qur’an 352 Video Resources 353 Computer Software 353 Islam on the Web 354 Islamic organizations 354 Islamic publishers and retailers 355 And Finally 355 Index 357