Product Code Database
Islam (; ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centered around the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad.Esposito, John L. 2009. "Islam." In , edited by J. L. Esposito. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . (See also: quick reference.) "Profession of Faith...affirms Islam's absolute monotheism and acceptance of Muḥammad as the messenger of Allah, the last and final prophet."Peters, F. E. 2009. "Allāh." In , edited by J. L. Esposito. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . (See also: quick reference.) "The Muslims' understanding of Allāh is based...on the Qurʿān's public witness. Allāh is Unique, the Creator, Sovereign, and Judge of mankind. It is Allāh who directs the universe through his direct action on nature and who has guided human history through his prophets, Abraham, with whom he made his covenant, Moses/Moosa, Jesus/Eesa, and Muḥammad, through all of whom he founded his chosen communities, the 'Peoples of the Book.'" Adherents of Islam, called Muslims,"
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Muslim." Lexico. UK: Oxford University Press. 2020. number approximately 1.9 billion globally and are the world's second-largest religious population behind Christians.
Muslims believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a Fitra that was revealed many times through earlier prophets such as Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, among others;Özdemir, İbrahim. 2014. "Environment." In , edited by I. Kalin. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . "When Meccan pagans demanded proofs, signs, or miracles for the existence of God, the Qurʾān's response was to direct their gaze at nature's complexity, regularity, and order. The early verses of the Qurʾān, therefore, reveal an invitation to examine and investigate the heavens and the earth, and everything that can be seen in the environment.... The Qurʾān thus makes it clear that everything in Creation is a miraculous sign of God (āyah), inviting human beings to contemplate the Creator." these earlier revelations are attributed to Judaism and Christianity, which are regarded in Islam as spiritual predecessor faiths. Muslims consider the Quran to be the verbatim word of God and the unaltered, final revelation. They also consider Muhammad as the main and final Islamic prophet. The teachings and normative example of Muhammad, called the sunnah, documented in accounts called the hadith, provide a constitutional model for Muslims. Islam teaches that God is Tawhid. It states that there will be a "Last Judgment" wherein the righteous will be rewarded in paradise (jannah) and the unrighteous will be punished in hell (jahannam). The Five Pillars—considered Fard acts of worship—comprise the Islamic oath and creed (shahada); daily Prayer (salah); Alms (zakat); fasting (sawm) in the month of Ramadan; and a pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca. Islamic law, sharia, touches on virtually every aspect of life, from banking and finance and Zakat to women's roles and the environment. (See also: "
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> sharia" via Lexico.) Prominent religious festivals include Eid al-Fitr, and Eid al-Adha. The three holiest sites in Islam in descending order are Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.Trofimov, Yaroslav. 2008. The Siege of Mecca: The 1979 Uprising at Islam's Holiest Shrine. Knopf. New York. . p. 79.
Islam originated in the 7th century in Mecca. Muslim rule expanded outside Arabia under the Rashidun Caliphate and the subsequent Umayyad Caliphate ruled from the Al-Andalus to the Indus Valley. In the Islamic Golden Age, mostly during the reign of the Abbasid Caliphate, much of the Muslim world experienced a scientific, economic and Islamic culture.George Saliba. 1994. A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam. New York: New York University Press. . pp. 245, 250, 256–57. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various states and caliphates as well as extensive trade and religious conversion as a result of Islamic missionary activities (dawah), and through conquests.
There are two major Islamic denominations: Sunni Islam (85–90%)Denny, Frederick. 2010. Sunni Islam: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 3. "Sunni Islam is the dominant division of the global Muslim community, and throughout history it has made up a substantial majority (85 to 90%) of that community." and Shia Islam (10–15%). While Sunni–Shia differences initially arose from disagreements over the succession to Muhammad, they grew to cover a broader dimension, both theologically and Fiqh. Muslims make up a majority of the population in 49 countries.Pew Forum. December 2012. " The Global Religious Landscape: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Major Religious Groups as of 2010." DC: Pew Research Center. Article. Approximately 12% of the world's Muslims live in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country;Pew Forum for Religion and Public Life. April 2015. " 10 Countries With the Largest Muslim Populations, 2010 and 2050" (projections table). Pew Research Center. % live in South Asia; 20% live in the Middle East–North Africa; and 15% live in sub-Saharan Africa. Sizable Muslim communities are also present in the Americas, China, and Europe. Due largely to a higher fertility rate, Islam is the world's fastest growing major religious group, and is projected to be the world's largest religion by the end of the 21st century.
Islam itself was historically called Mohammedan in the English-speaking world. This term has fallen out of use and is sometimes said to be offensive, as it suggests that a human being, rather than God, is central to Muslims' religion, parallel to Gautama Buddha in Buddhism.Wilson, Kenneth G. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. . p. 291: "Muhammadan and Mohammedan are based on the name of the prophet Mohammed, and both are considered offensive."
Islam teaches that the creation of everything in the universe was brought into being by God's command as expressed by the wording, "Be, and it is," and that the purpose of existence is to worship God.Leeming, David. 2005. The Oxford Companion to World Mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . p. 209. He is viewed as a personal god and there are no intermediaries, such as clergy, to contact God. Consciousness and awareness of God is referred to as Taqwa. Allāh is a term with no plural or gender being ascribed to it and is also used by Muslims and Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews in reference to God, whereas (إله) is a term used for a deity or a god in general.: Arabic-speaking Christians and also refer to God as Allāh.
Islam also holds that God has sent revelations, called wahy, to different prophets numerous times throughout history. However, Islam teaches that parts of the previously revealed scriptures, such as the Tawrat (Torah) and the Injil (Gospel), had become tahrif—either in interpretation, in text, or both, while the Quran (lit. 'Recitation') is viewed as the final, verbatim and unaltered word of God.
Muslims believe that God sent Muhammad as the final prophet ("Seal of the prophets") to convey the completed message of Islam. In Islam, the "normative" example of Muhammad's life is called the sunnah (literally "trodden path"). Muslims are encouraged to emulate Muhammad's moral behaviors in their daily lives, and the Sunnah is seen as crucial to guiding interpretation of the Quran. This example is preserved in traditions known as hadith, which are accounts of his words, actions, and personal characteristics. Hadith qudsi is a sub-category of hadith, regarded as God's verbatim words quoted by Muhammad that are not part of the Quran. A hadith involves two elements: a chain of narrators, called sanad, and the actual wording, called Hadith studies. There are various methodologies to classify the authenticity of hadiths, with the commonly used grading being: "authentic" or "correct" (label=none); "good", hasan (translit=ḥasan); or "weak" (translit=ḍaʻīf), among others. The Kutub al-Sittah are a collection of six books, regarded as the most authentic reports in Sunni Islam. Among them is Sahih al-Bukhari, often considered by Sunnis to be one of the most authentic sources after the Quran.al-Rahman, Aisha Abd, ed. 1990. Muqaddimah Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ. Cairo: Dar al-Ma'arif, 1990. pp. 160–69 Another famous source of hadiths is known as The Four Books, which Shias consider as the most authentic hadith reference.Awliya'i, Mustafa. " The Four Books." In Outlines of the Development of the Science of Hadith 1, translated by A. Q. Qara'i. – via Al-Islam.org. Retrieved 24 May 2020.Rizvi, Sayyid Sa'eed Akhtar. " The Hadith §The Four Books (Al-Kutubu’l-Arb’ah)." Ch 4 in The Qur’an and Hadith. Tanzania: Bilal Muslim Mission. – via Al-Islam.org. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
On Yawm al-Qiyāmah, Muslims believe all humankind will be judged by their good and bad deeds and consigned to Jannah (paradise) or Jahannam (hell). The Quran in Surat al-Zalzalah describes this as: "So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it. And whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it." The Quran lists several sins that can condemn a person to hell. However, the Quran makes it clear that God will forgive the sins of those who repent if he wishes. Good deeds, like charity, prayer, and compassion towards animals,Masri, Basheer Ahmad. Animals in Islam. p. 27. will be rewarded with entry to heaven. Muslims view heaven as a place of joy and blessings, with Quranic references describing its features. Mystical traditions in Islam place these heavenly delights in the context of an ecstatic awareness of God.; Encyclopedia of Islam and Muslim World, p. 565 Yawm al-Qiyāmah is also identified in the Quran as Yawm ad-Dīn (يوم الدين "Day of Religion");; as-Sāʿah (الساعة "the Last Hour");; and Al-Qaria (القارعة "The Clatterer");
/ref>
A mosque is a place of worship for Muslims, who often refer to it by its Arabic name masjid. Although the primary purpose of the mosque is to serve as a place of prayer, it is also important social center to the ummah. For example, the Masjid an-Nabawi ("Prophetic Mosque") in Medina, Saudi Arabia, used to also serve as a shelter for the poor. are towers used to call the adhan, a vocal call to signal the prayer time.Pedersen, J., R. Hillenbrand, John Burton-Page, et al. 2010. “.” Encyclopedia of Islam. Leiden: Brill Publishers. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
Remembrance of God (label=none) refers to phrases repeated referencing God. Commonly, this includes Tahmid, declaring Alhamdulillah (label=none) during prayer or when feeling thankful, Tasbih, declaring glory to God during prayer or when in awe of something and saying 'Basmala' (بسملة, ) before starting an act such as eating.
During this time, while in Mecca, Muhammad preached first in secret and then in public, imploring his listeners to abandon polytheism and worship one God. Many early converts to Islam were women, the poor, foreigners, and slaves like the first muezzin Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi.Rabah, Bilal B. Encyclopedia of Islam. The Meccan elite profited from the pilgrimages to the idols of the Kaaba but felt Muhammad was destabilizing their social order by preaching about one God and giving questionable ideas to the poor and slaves."Slaves and Slavery." Encyclopedia of the Qur'an..
After 12 years of the persecution of Muslims by the Meccans, Muhammad and his Sahaba performed the Hegira ("emigration") in 622 to the city of Yathrib (current-day Medina). There, with the Medinan converts (the Ansar) and the Meccan migrants (the Muhajirun), Muhammad in Medina established his Theocracy. The Constitution of Medina was signed by all the tribes of Medina establishing among the Muslim and non-Muslim communities religious freedoms and freedom to use their own laws and agreeing to bar weapons from Medina and to defend it from external threats. Meccan forces and their allies lost against the Muslims at the Battle of Badr in 624 and then fought an inconclusive battle in the Battle of Uhud. before unsuccessfully besieging Medina in the Battle of the Trench (March–April 627). In 628, the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah was signed between Mecca and the Muslims, but it was broken by Mecca two years later. As more tribes converted to Islam, Meccan trade routes were cut off by the Muslims. By 629 Muhammad was victorious in the nearly bloodless conquest of Mecca, and by the time of his death in 632 (at age 62) he had united the tribes of Arabia into a single religious polity.
Abu Bakr's leadership oversaw the beginning of the compilation of the Qur'an. The Caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz set up the committee, The Seven Fuqaha of Medina, Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz By Imam Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Abdul Hakam died 214 AH 829 C.E. Publisher Zam Zam Publishers Karachi, pp. 54–59 and Malik ibn Anas wrote one of the earliest books on Islamic jurisprudence, the Muwatta, as a consensus of the opinion of those jurists. The Kharijites believed there is no compromised middle ground between good and evil, and any Muslim who commits a grave sin becomes an unbeliever. The term is also used to refer to later groups such as Islamic State. The Murji'ah taught that people's righteousness could be judged by God alone. Therefore, wrongdoers might be considered misguided, but not denounced as unbelievers. This attitude came to prevail into mainstream Islamic beliefs.
The Umayyad dynasty conquered the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Narbonnese Gaul and Sindh. The Umayyads struggled with a lack of legitimacy and relied on a heavily patronized military. Since the jizya tax was a tax paid by non-Muslims which exempted them from military service, the Umayyads denied recognizing the conversion of non-Arabs as it reduced revenue. While the Rashidun Caliphate emphasized austerity, with Umar even requiring an inventory of each official's possessions, Umayyad luxury bred dissatisfaction among the pious. The Kharijites led the Berber Revolt leading to the first Muslim states independent of the Caliphate. In the Abbasid revolution, non-Arab converts ( mawali), Arab clans pushed aside by the Umayyad clan, and some Shi'a rallied and overthrew the Umayyads, inaugurating the more cosmopolitan Abbasid dynasty in 750.
At this time, theological problems, notably on free will, were prominently tackled, with Hasan al Basri holding that although God knows people's actions, good and evil come from abuse of free will and the Iblis. Greek rationalist philosophy influenced a speculative school of thought known as Muʿtazila, who famously advocated the notion of free-will, first originated by Wasil ibn Ata. Caliphs such as Mamun al Rashid and Al-Mu'tasim made it an official creed and unsuccessfully attempted to force their position on the majority. They carried out inquisitions with the traditionalist Ahmad ibn Hanbal notably refusing to conform to the Mutazila idea of the creation of the Quran and was tortured and kept in an unlit prison cell for nearly thirty months. However, other schools of Kalam – Maturidi founded by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi and Ash'ari founded by Al-Ash'ari – were more successful in being widely adopted. Philosophers such as Al-Farabi, Avicenna and Averroes sought to harmonize Aristotle's metaphysics within Islam, similar to later scholasticism within Christianity in Europe, and Maimonides' work within Judaism, while others like Al-Ghazali argued against such syncretism and ultimately prevailed.
This era is sometimes called the "Islamic Golden Age". Islamic scientific achievements encompassed a wide range of subject areas especially medicine, mathematics, astronomy, agriculture as well as physics, economics, engineering and Ibn al-Haytham. Hassan, Ahmad Y. 1996. " Factors Behind the Decline of Islamic Science After the Sixteenth Century." Pp. 351–99 in Islam and the Challenge of Modernity, edited by S. S. Al-Attas. Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Avicenna was a pioneer in Medical research,Jacquart, Danielle (2008). "Islamic Pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Theories and Substances". European Review (Cambridge University Press) 16: 219–227.David W. Tschanz, MSPH, PhD (August 2003). "Arab Roots of European Medicine", Heart Views 4 (2). and his The Canon of Medicine was used as a standard medicinal text in the Islamic world and Europe for centuries. Rhazes was the first to distinguish the diseases smallpox and measles. of the time issued the first medical diplomas to license doctors. Ibn al-Haytham is regarded as the father of the modern scientific method and often referred to as the "world's first true scientist", in particular regarding his work in optics.Nomanul Haq (2009). "Science in Islam". Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. . Retrieved 22 October 2014 In engineering, the Banū Mūsā brothers' Automaton flute player is considered to have been the first programmable machine. In mathematics, the concept of the algorithm is named after Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, who is considered a founder of algebra, which is named after his book al-jabr,Toomer, Gerald (1990). "Al-Khwārizmī, Abu Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Mūsā". In Gillispie, Charles Coulston. Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 7. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. . while others developed the concept of a function. The government paid scientists the equivalent salary of professional athletes today. The Guinness World Records recognizes the University of Al Karaouine, founded in 859, as the world's oldest degree-granting university. Many non Muslims, mainly Christians and to a lesser extent Jews and Sabians, contributed to the Islamic civilization in various fields,Hill, Donald. Islamic Science and Engineering. 1993. Edinburgh Univ. Press. , p.4Rémi Brague, Assyrians contributions to the Islamic civilization and the institution known as the House of Wisdom employed Christian and Persian scholars to both translate works into Arabic and to develop new knowledge.Meri, Josef W. and Jere L. Bacharach. “Medieval Islamic Civilization”. Vol. 1 Index A–K. 2006, p. 304.
The vast Abbasid empire proved impossible to hold together. Soldiers established their own dynasties, such as the , Samanid Empire and Ghaznavid. Additionally, the millennialist Isma'ili Shi'a missionary movement rose with the Fatimid dynasty taking control of North AfricaNeue Fischer Weltgeschichte "Islamisierung in Zentralasien bis zur Mongolenzeit“ Band 10: Zentralasien, 2012, p. 191 (German) and with the Qarmatians sacking Mecca and stealing the Black Stone in their unsuccessful rebellion. In what is called the Shi'a Century, another Ismaili group, the Buyid dynasty conquered Baghdad and turned the Abbasids into a figurehead monarchy. The Sunni Seljuk dynasty, campaigned to Sunni Revival by promulgating the accumulated scholarly opinion of the time notably with the construction of educational institutions known as Nezamiyeh, which are associated with Al-Ghazali and Saadi Shirazi.Andreas Graeser Zenon von Kition: Positionen u. Probleme Walter de Gruyter 1975 p. 260
Religious missions converted Volga Bulgaria to Islam. The Delhi Sultanate reached deep into the Indian Subcontinent and many converted to Islam,Majumdar, Dr. R.C., History of Mediaeval Bengal, First published 1973, Reprint 2006, Tulshi Prakashani, Kolkata, in particular Dalit whose descendents make up the vast majority of Indian Muslims. Many Muslims also went to China to trade, virtually dominating the import and export industry of the Song dynasty.
While cultural influence used to radiate outward from Baghdad, after the Mongol destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate, Arab influence decreased. Iran and Central Asia, benefiting from increased cross-cultural access to East Asia under Pax Mongolica, flourished and developed more distinctively from Arab influence, such as the Timurid Renaissance under the Timurid dynasty. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201–1274) proposed the Tusi couple that was later adopted by Copernicus unrevised in his heliocentric model and Jamshīd al-Kāshī's estimate of pi would not be surpassed for 180 years.
The introduction of gunpowder weapons led to the rise of large centralized states and the Muslim Gunpowder empires consolidated much of the previously splintered territories. The caliphate was claimed by the Ottoman dynasty of the Ottoman Empire since Murad I's conquest of Edirne in 1362,Hassan, Mona (2018). Longing for the Lost Caliphate: A Transregional History. Princeton University Press. and its claims were strengthened in 1517 as Selim I became the ruler of Mecca and Medina. The Shia Safavid dynasty rose to power in 1501 and later conquered all of Iran.Peter B. Golden: An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples; In: Osman Karatay, Ankara 2002, p. 321 In South Asia, Babur founded the Mughal Empire.
The religion of the centralized states of the Gunpowder empires influenced the religious practice of their constituent populations. A symbiosis between Ottoman rulers and Sufism strongly influenced Islamic reign by the Ottomans from the beginning. The Mevlevi Order and Bektashi Order had a close relation to the sultans,Ga ́bor A ́goston, Bruce Alan Masters Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire Infobase Publishing 2010 p. 540 as Sufi-mystical as well as heterodox and syncretic approaches to Islam flourished. The often forceful Safavid conversion of Iran to the Twelver Shia Islam of the Safavid Empire ensured the final dominance of the Twelver within Shia Islam. Persian migrants to South Asia, as influential bureaucrats and landholders, help spread Shia Islam, forming some of the largest Shia populations outside Iran. Nader Shah, who overthrew the Safavids, attempted to improve relations with Sunnis by propagating the integration of Twelverism into Sunni Islam as a fifth madhhab, called Ja'farism, which failed to gain recognition from the Ottomans.
The Muslim world was generally in political decline starting the 1800s, especially regarding non-Muslim European powers. Earlier, in the fifteenth century, the Reconquista succeeded in ending the Taifa. By the 19th century; the British East India Company had formally annexed the Mughal dynasty in India. As a response to Imperialism, many intellectuals sought to Islamic revival. Islamic modernism, initially labelled by Western scholars as Salafi movement, embraced modern values and institutions such as democracy while being scripture-oriented.Robert Rabil Salafism in Lebanon: From Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism Georgetown University Press 2014 chapter: "Doctrine" Notable forerunners include Muhammad Abduh and Jamal al-Din al-Afghani.Henri Lauzière The Making of Salafism: Islamic Reform in the Twentieth Century Columbia University Press 2015 Abul A'la Maududi helped influence modern political Islam. Similar to contemporary Civil code, Shariah was for the first time partially codified into law in 1869 in the Ottoman Empire's Mecelle code.Ashk Dahlen Islamic Law, Epistemology and Modernity: Legal Philosophy in Contemporary Iran Routledge 2004
The Ottoman Empire disintegrated after World War I and the Caliphate was abolished in 1924 by the first President of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as part of his secular reforms. attempted to unify Muslims and competed with growing nationalist forces, such as pan-Arabism. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), consisting of Muslim-majority countries, was established in 1969 after the burning of the Qibli Mosque in Jerusalem.
Contact with industrialized nations brought Muslim populations to new areas through economic migration. Many Muslims migrated as indentured servants (mostly from India and Indonesia) to the Caribbean, forming the largest Muslim populations by percentage in the Americas. Migration from Syria and Lebanon was the biggest contributor to the Muslim population in Latin America. The resulting urbanization and increase in trade in sub-Saharan Africa brought Muslims to settle in new areas and spread their faith, likely doubling its Muslim population between 1869 and 1914.
In opposition to Islamic political movements, in 20th century Turkey, the military carried out coups to oust Islamist governments, and headscarves were legally restricted, as also happened in Tunisia. In other places religious power was co-opted, such as in Saudi Arabia, where the state monopolized religious scholarship and are often seen as puppets of the state while Egypt nationalized Al-Azhar University, previously an independent voice checking state power. Salafism was funded for its quietism. Saudi Arabia campaigned against revolutionary Islamist movements in the Middle East, in opposition to Iran.
Muslim minorities of various ethnicities have been persecuted as a religious group. This has been undertaken by communist forces like the Khmer Rouge, who viewed them as their primary enemy to be exterminated since they stood out and worshiped their own god and the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang and by nationalist forces such as during the Bosnian genocide.
The globalization of communication has increased dissemination of religious information. The adoption of the hijab has grown more common and some Muslim intellectuals are increasingly striving to separate scriptural Islamic beliefs from cultural traditions. Among other groups, this access to information has led to the rise of popular "televangelist" preachers, such as Amr Khaled, who compete with the traditional ulema in their reach and have decentralized religious authority. More "individualized" interpretations of IslamV. Šisler: The Internet and the Construction of Islamic Knowledge in Europe p. 212 notably include Liberal Muslims who attempt to reconcile religious traditions with current secular governance and women's issues.
In the 21st century, the rise of Isil in 2013 presented a new breed of triumphalist extremist Islamist group that seized parts of Iraq and Syria and sought to declare a new medieval caliphate. Rejected as terrorists by the mainstream global Muslim community, the group was forced to resort to insurgency-like tactics in the face of Iranian intervention commanded by Qasem Soleimani in 2014, and a US-led military intervention in 2017 that by 2019 saw almost all of its territorial gains reversed.
By both percentage and total numbers, Islam is the world's fastest growing major religious group, and is projected to be the world's largest by the end of the 21st century, surpassing that of Christianity. It is estimated that, by 2050, the number of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around the world, "due to the young age and high fertility rate of Muslims relative to other religious groups".Pew Forum for Religion & Public Life. April 2015. " The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050." Pew Research Center. p. 70 Article.
Sunni schools of theology encompass Asharism founded by Al-Ashʿarī (c. 874–936), Maturidi by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (853–944 CE) and traditionalist theology under the leadership of Ahmad ibn Hanbal (780–855 CE). Traditionalist theology is characterized by its adherence to a literal understanding of the Quran and the Sunnah, the belief in the Quran is uncreated and eternal, and opposition to reason (kalam) in religious and ethical matters.Hadi Enayat Islam and Secularism in Post-Colonial Thought: A Cartography of Asadian Genealogies Springer Publishing, 30 June 2017 p.48 On the other hand, Maturidism asserts, scripture is not needed for basic ethics and that good and evil can be understood by reason alone,Rico Isaacs, Alessandro Frigerio Theorizing Central Asian Politics: The State, Ideology and Power Springer Publishing 2018 p. 108 but people rely on revelation, for matters beyond human's comprehension. Asharism holds that ethics can derive just from divine revelation but not from human reason. However, Asharism accepts reason regarding exegetical matters and combines Muʿtazila approaches with traditionalist ideas.
In the 18th century, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab led a Salafi movement, referred by outsiders as Wahhabism, in modern-day Saudi Arabia.Richard Gauvain Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God Routledge 2013 page 8 A similar movement called Ahl al-Hadith also de-emphasized the centuries' old Sunni legal tradition, preferring to directly follow the Quran and Hadith. The Nur movement Sunni movement was by Said Nursi (1877–1960);Svante E. Cornell Azerbaijan Since Independence M.E. Sharpe p. 283 it incorporates elements of Sufism and science.Robert W. Hefner Shariʻa Politics: Islamic Law and Society in the Modern World Indiana University Press 2011 p. 170
Sufis reject materialism and ego and regard everything as if it was sent by god alone, Sufi strongly believes in the oneness of god.
Sufis see tasawwuf as an inseparable part of Islam, just like the sharia. Traditional Sufis, such as Bayazid Bastami, Jalaluddin Rumi, Haji Bektash Veli, Junaid Baghdadi, and Al-Ghazali, argued for Sufism as being based upon the tenets of Islam and the teachings of the prophet. Historian Nile Green argued that Islam in the Medieval period, was more or less Sufism. Popular devotional practices such as the veneration of Sufi saints have been viewed as innovations from the original religion from followers of Salafism, who have sometimes physically attacked Sufis, leading to a deterioration in Sufi–Salafi relations.
Sufi congregations form orders ( tariqa) centered around a teacher ( wali) who traces a spiritual chain back to Muhammad. Sufis played an important role in the formation of Muslim societies through their missionary and educational activities. Sufi influenced Ahle Sunnat movement or Barelvi movement defends Sufi practices and beliefs with over 200 million followers in south Asia. – via Oxford Reference. Sufism is prominent in Central Asia, as well as in African countries like Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Chad and Niger.
Traditional theory of Islamic jurisprudence recognizes four sources of sharia: the Quran, sunnah ( Hadith and Sira), qiyas (analogical reasoning), and ijma (juridical consensus). (2023). 9780815629085, Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815629085 Quote: "..., by the ninth century, the classical theory of law fixed the sources of Islamic law at four: the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet, qiyas (analogical reasoning), and ijma (consensus)." Different Madhhab developed methodologies for deriving sharia rulings from scriptural sources using a process known as ijtihad. Traditional jurisprudence distinguishes two principal branches of law, Ibadah (rituals) and Muamalat (social relations), which together comprise a wide range of topics. Its rulings assign actions to one of five categories called ahkam: mandatory ( fard), recommended ( mustahabb), permitted ( mubah), abhorred ( makruh), and prohibited ( haram). Forgiveness is much celebrated in Islam and, in criminal law, while imposing a penalty on an offender in proportion to their offense is considered permissible; forgiving the offender is better. To go one step further by offering a favor to the offender is regarded as the peak of excellence. Some areas of sharia overlap with the Western notion of law while others correspond more broadly to living life in accordance with God's will.
Historically, sharia was interpreted by independent jurists (). Their legal opinions (fatwa) were taken into account by ruler-appointed Qadi who presided over Qadi's courts, and by Mazalim courts, which were controlled by the ruler's council and administered criminal law. In the modern era, sharia-based criminal laws were widely replaced by statutes inspired by European models. The Ottoman Empire's 19th-century Tanzimat reforms lead to the Mecelle civil code and represented the first attempt to codify sharia.Dahlen, Ashk. 2004. Islamic Law, Epistemology and Modernity: Legal Philosophy in Contemporary Iran. Routledge. . While the constitutions of most Muslim-majority states contain references to sharia, its classical rules were largely retained only in personal status (family) laws. Legislative bodies which codified these laws sought to modernize them without abandoning their foundations in traditional jurisprudence.Mayer, Ann Elizabeth. 2009. " Law. Modern Legal Reform." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, edited by J. L. Esposito. Oxford: Oxford University Press. The Islamic revival of the late 20th century brought along calls by Islamist movements for complete implementation of sharia. The role of sharia has become a contested topic around the world. There are ongoing debates whether sharia is compatible with secular forms of government, human rights, freedom of thought, and women's rights.
Jihad means "to strive or struggle in" and, in its broadest sense, is "exerting one's utmost power, efforts, endeavors, or ability in contending with an object of ". This could refer to one's striving to attain religious and moral perfection with the Shia and Sufis in particular, distinguishing between the "greater jihad", which pertains to spiritual self-improvement, and the "lesser jihad", defined as warfare.. When used without a qualifier, jihad is often understood in its military form. Jihad is the only form of warfare permissible in Islamic law and may be declared against illegal works, terrorists, criminal groups, rebels, apostates, and leaders or states who oppress Muslims. Most Muslims today interpret Jihad as only a defensive form of warfare.Habeck, Mary R. Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror. Yale University Press. pp. 108–109, 118. Jihad only becomes an individual duty for those vested with authority. For the rest of the populace, this happens only in the case of a general mobilization. For most Twelver, offensive jihad can only be declared by a divinely appointed leader of the Muslim community, and as such, is suspended since Muhammad al-Mahdi's occultation is 868 CE.
In Islamic marriage, the groom is required to pay a bridal gift ( mahr). Most families in the Islamic world are monogamous. However, Muslim men are allowed to practice polygyny and can have up to four wives at the same time. There are also cultural variations in weddings. Polyandry, a practice wherein a woman takes on two or more husbands, is prohibited in Islam.
After the birth of a child, the adhan is pronounced in the right ear. On the seventh day, the aqiqah ceremony is performed, in which an animal is sacrificed and its meat is distributed among the poor. The child's head is shaved, and an amount of money equaling the weight of its hair is donated to the poor. Although there is some debate within Islam over whether it is a religious requirement or mere recommendation, (2023). 9781447128571, Springer. ISBN 9781447128571 male circumcision, called Khitan, is practised in the Muslim world. Respecting and obeying one's parents, and taking care of them especially in their old age is a religious obligation.Muhammad Shafi Usmani. Maariful Quran. English trans. By Muhammad Taqi Usmani
A dying Muslim is encouraged to pronounce the Shahada as their last words. Paying respects to the dead and attending funerals in the community are considered among the virtuous acts. In Islamic funeral, burial is encouraged as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours. The body is washed, except for martyrs, by members of the same gender and enshrouded in a garment that must not be elaborate called kafan. A "funeral prayer" called Salat al-Janazah is performed. Wailing, or loud, mournful outcrying, is discouraged. Coffins are often not preferred and graves are often unmarked, even for kings. Regarding inheritance, a son's share is double that of a daughter's..
Islamic art encompasses the visual arts including fields as varied as architecture, calligraphy, painting, and ceramics, among others.ref>
While the making of images of animate beings has often been frowned upon in connection with laws against idolatry, this rule has been interpreted in different ways by different scholars and in different historical periods. This stricture has been used to explain the prevalence of calligraphy, tessellation, and pattern as key aspects of Islamic artistic culture. In Islamic architecture, varying cultures show influence such as North African and Spanish Islamic architecture such as the Great Mosque of Kairouan containing marble and porphyry columns from Roman and Byzantine buildings, while mosques in Indonesia often have multi-tiered roofs from local styles.The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar that begins with the Hegira of 622 CE, a date that was reportedly chosen by Caliph Umar as it was an important turning point in Muhammad's fortunes. Islamic Muslim holidays fall on fixed dates of the lunar calendar, meaning they occur in seasons in different years in the Gregorian calendar. The most important Islamic festivals are Eid al-Fitr (عيد الف) on the 1st of Shawwal, marking the end of the fasting month Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha (عيد الأضحى) on the 10th of Dhu al-Hijjah, coinciding with the end of the Hajj (pilgrimage).
Cultural Muslims are religiously non-practicing individuals who still identify with Islam due to family backgrounds, personal experiences, or the social and cultural environment in which they grew up, with certain national and ethnic rituals, rather than merely religious faith.
Christian writers criticized Islamic salvation optimism and its carnality. Islam's sensual descriptions of paradise led many Christians to conclude that Islam was not a spiritual religion. Although sensual pleasure was also present in early Christianity, as seen in the writings of Irenaeus, the doctrines of the former Manichaeism, Augustine of Hippo, led to the broad repudiation of bodily pleasure in both life and the afterlife. Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari defended the Quranic description of paradise by asserting that the Bible also implies such ideas, such as drinking wine in the Gospel of Matthew. Christian Lange Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions Cambridge University Press, 2015 pp. 18–20
Defamatory images of Muhammad, derived from early 7th century depictions of the Byzantine Church,Minou Reeves, and P. J. Stewart. 2003. Muhammad in Europe: A Thousand Years of Western Myth-Making. NYU Press. . p. 93–96. appear in the 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.Stone, G. 2006. Dante's Pluralism and the Islamic Philosophy of Religion. Springer Publishing. . p. 132. Here, Muhammad appears in the eighth circle of hell, along with Ali. Dante does not blame Islam as a whole but accuses Muhammad of schism, by establishing another religion after Christianity.
Other criticisms focus on the question of human rights in modern Muslim-majority countries, and the treatment of women in Islamic law and practice. In the wake of the recent multiculturalism trend, Islam's influence on the ability of Muslim immigrants in the West to assimilate has been criticized. Western world of Islam grew after the September 11 attacks and other terrorist incidents.
|
|
