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Islam

©Thomas HilgersPage 389

FIRST ENCOUNTER

You are in Malaysia, on your way south to Singapore. A friend has recommended that you visit the modern national mosque in Kuala Lumpur. Your first try is unsuccessful because the mosque is closed for midday prayer. After two hours at a nearby museum of Islamic art, you return to the mosque. You leave your shoes at the bottom of the stairs and walk up into the building.

The mosque is extraordinary. You are amazed at how well the traditional Islamic love of geometrical design has been adapted to modern architecture. The marble floors reflect the colors of the stained glass above and the movement of the many visitors walking toward the main prayer area.

As you approach the core of the mosque, you notice a sign on a rope indicating that only Muslims are allowed to enter. You overhear some Chinese visitors explain to a woman at the rope that they are Muslims. She directs them in. You come up behind them, just to get a better look. The Page 390large space is carpeted, and people are prostrating themselves in prayer. You and the woman begin to talk.

“My name is Aminah,” she says. “I’m an elementary-school teacher. Right now school is not in session, so I volunteer my time here.”

Aminah is dressed in a floor-length blue robe with a full head covering. Only her face and hands are visible.

“Do you have any questions?” she asks.

From what you have seen on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, you know that Aminah is conservatively dressed. So you ask the obvious question: “Why do you dress as you do?”

“I expected that,” she says with a smile. “So many Westerners want to talk about clothes.” You look down, slightly embarrassed to be just another Westerner with an obvious question.

“The way I dress makes me feel safe,” she says. “For me it’s comfortable. It reminds me that within Islam, women are protected.”

You look a bit doubtful.

“Yes, I know,” she continues. “It is possible to be too protected. Fathers and uncles and brothers sometimes make it their career to watch out for you, and that’s not always welcome.” You both laugh. “And sports can be difficult if one is all covered up. But we’re working on it.”

Aminah has finished her duty and is replaced by a man standing nearby.

“What about arranged marriages, especially of very young women?” you ask her. “And what about women being kept from education in some Muslim countries?” You ask these things just for the sake of argument, as you both begin to walk toward the exit.

“Things like that are cultural,” she says. “There are many old traditions that are not a part of true Islam, and they can be changed. A whole new kind of modern Islam is developing, especially here in Malaysia, and the roles of women are widening. You know the saying, ‘Do not judge a book by its cover.’ What you see of women like me may look traditional, but it’s a disguise. Inside, we’re modern. Come back again in ten years and you will see it even more clearly.”

Together you go down the steps in front of the mosque to a little kiosk. Aminah reaches into a drawer there.

“I want you to have this,” she says, as she hands you a blue book with gold writing on the front. “You can find all you need to know here. After you read it, maybe you can give us fresh ideas for a new, modern type of Islam.”

You look down at the book. Printed in both Arabic and English, it is a copy of the Qur’an.

As you wait for a taxi, you wonder about the Qur’an. Who wrote it? What does it say about Muhammad? And does it say anything about other religions? What does it say about women? As you climb into your taxi, you decide to start reading your new book that evening.

THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF MUHAMMAD

Muhammad 1  (570–632 CE) was born in Mecca, in what is today Saudi Arabia (see  Timeline 10.1 , p. 392). Much of what we know about him comes from his sermons and revelations in the Muslim sacred book, the  Qur’an  (“recitation”). We know more from the  hadiths  (also spelled ahadith;“recollections,” “narratives”)—the remembrances of him by his early followers.

T I M E L I N E 10 . 1
		570–632 CE	⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯•	Life of Muhammad
Muhammad’s first revelation	•⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯	610 CE
		622 CE	⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯•	Hijra: Muhammad’s flight from Mecca to Yathrib (Medina); Muslim year 1
Muhammad’s gain of control over Mecca	•⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯	630 CE
		680 CE	⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯•	Death of Hussein, grandson of Muhammad
Battle of Tours; Muslim incursion into France is halted	•⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯	732 CE
		922 CE	⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯•	Execution of the mystic al-Hallaj
Life of the Sufi scholar al-Ghazali	•⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯	1058–1111 CE
		1099	⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯•	Conquest of Jerusalem by Crusaders
Life of the Sufi poet Jalal-ud-Din Rumi	•⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯	1207–1273
		1291	⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯•	Muslim expulsion of the Crusaders from Israel
Muslim capture of Constantinople	•⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯	1453
		1492	⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯•	Expulsion of Muslims from Spain
Period of the Mughal Empire in India	•⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯	1526–1857
		1947	⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯•	Independence of Pakistan as a Muslim nation
Islamic Revolution in Iran, led by Ayatollah Khomeini	•⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯	1979
		2011	⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯•	“Arab Spring” begins to bring changes to Egyptian and other Arab governments
Calls to establish a transnational Islamic governing authority	•⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯	2014

Timeline of significant events in the history of Islam.

In the days before Islam arose, the religions of the Arabian Peninsula were Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and traditional local religious practices. These local practices included worshiping tree spirits, mountain spirits, tribal gods, and jinni (the origin of the English word genie)—capricious spirits that were thought to inhabit the desert and even to enter people. The supreme god Allah was an object of faith but not of worship. Allah was “the creator and sustainer of life but remote from everyday concerns and thus not the object of cult or ritual. Associated with Allah were three goddesses, his daughters: al-Lat, Manat, and al-Uzza,” 2  goddesses related to nature, the moon, and fertility.

At the time of Muhammad’s birth, Mecca was already a center of religious pilgrimage. Located in Mecca was a black meteorite that had fallen to earth long before Muhammad’s time. It was venerated because it was believed to have been sent from heaven. A square shrine had been constructed to contain it, called the  Kaaba  (or Kabah, “cube”). 3  By Muhammad’s day, as many as 360 religious images of tribal gods and goddesses had been placed within the Kaaba, and tradition tells that twenty-four statues, perhaps associated with the zodiac, stood around the central square of Mecca. By Muhammad’s time, yearly pilgrimages to Mecca were already common, and a four-month period of regular truce among the many Arabian tribes was kept in order to allow this.

Muhammad’s grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, played an important role among the Quraysh, the dominant tribe of Mecca, and he is even thought to have been custodian of the Kaaba. Muhammad’s father died not long before Muhammad’s birth, and his mother seems to have died when he was just a child. Muhammad then went to live with his grandfather, and after his grandfather’s death two years later, he lived with his uncle, Abu Talib. 4

As an adult, Muhammad worked as a caravan driver for a widow named  Khadijah , 5  who had inherited a caravan company from her deceased husband. The friendship between Khadijah and Muhammad grew over time. They married in about 595 CE, when Muhammad was 25 and she (tradition says) was about 40. 6  This marriage brought financial, spiritual, and emotional support to Muhammad, and Khadijah proved to be his mainstay until her death. Although they had about six children, no boy survived into adulthood to become Muhammad’s hereditary successor. After Khadijah’s death, Muhammad remarried a number of times. It is possible he married several of his wives out of compassion because, in his society, widows of soldiers often needed a husband for financial support and legal protection.

From his travels as a caravan worker, Muhammad undoubtedly learned a great deal about several religions, including the differences within and among them. Although the monotheistic religions of his region shared a belief in one High God and emphasized the need for morality, there was much disagreement as well. Jews and Page 392Christians disagreed about the role of Jesus and the nature of God. Christians disagreed with each other about the nature of Jesus. Jews and some Christians forbade image-making, although many Christians allowed it. Another major influence, the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism, so emphasized the moral struggle in human life that many people saw the world as being subject to two cosmic forces—good and evil.

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As a religious person, Muhammad spent time pondering and meditating. To do this, he frequently went to caves in the hills surrounding Mecca that had long been used for prayer. When he was 40, during a religious retreat in a cave at Mount Hira, he received his first revelation, as described in the Qur’an. A bright presence came to him and held before his eyes a cloth covered with writing. It commanded three times that he recite what was written there:

1. Recite in the name of the Lord who created—created man from clots of blood.

2. Recite! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One, who by the pen taught man what he did not know.

3. Indeed, man transgresses in thinking himself his own master; for to your Lord all things return … .

4. Prostrate yourself and come nearer. 7

At first, Muhammad doubted the nature of this revelation. Could it be madness or hallucination or some kind of demonic apparition? He confided in his wife Khadijah. She knew him well, and she encouraged him to accept his experience as a true communication from God. He became convinced that the bright presence was the angel Gabriel. When further revelations came to him, Muhammad began to share them with his closest friends and family members—particularly his wife, his cousin Ali (600–661), and his friend, Abu Bakr (573–634). These were the first  Muslims , meaning “people who submit” to God (Allah).

When Muhammad began to proclaim his revelations more openly, he was not well received. Much of Muhammad’s message was unthreatening—he urged kindness and care for the poor and weak. Muhammad also insisted that there was only one God to worship. The revelations forbade the worship of other gods and demanded the destruction of statues and images. Muhammad also denounced usury—lending money at exorbitant rates—and he denounced the failure to make and to keep fair contracts. These messages threatened businesspeople, particularly those involved in the pilgrimage trade, because the revelations opposed both common business practices and the multiple tribal gods, whose images were kept in the Kaaba. In 615 CE, some of Muhammad’s followers fled for safety to what is today Ethiopia. In 619 CE, Khadijah died. When Abu Talib, Muhammad’s protective uncle, died soon after, Muhammad became concerned about his own safety. He and the rest of his followers considered leaving Mecca.

During this stressful time, Muhammad, in 620 CE experienced himself being carried to Jerusalem and ascending from there into paradise. In this experience, called his Night Journey or Night of Ascent, the angel Gabriel guided him upward. As Muhammad ascended toward the highest heaven, he encountered angels and the great prophets of the past, including Abraham and Jesus. At last he entered into the presence of God. Muslims disagree about whether this event was a visionary experience or an actual physical ascension from Jerusalem. Artistic tradition, though, treats Muhammad’s experience as a physical and bodily ascent from the city of Jerusalem. 8  He is pictured surrounded by flames and flying through the sky. This experience confirmed for Muhammad his vocation as a prophet and messenger of God.Page 394

Muhammad, accompanied by angels, is portrayed before the Night of Ascent on the back of the steed Buraq. Following Islamic tradition, the face of Muhammad is not depicted.©Pictures from History/Bridgeman ImagesPage 395

Persecution of Muhammad and his followers in Mecca became more intense. At the invitation of leaders of Yathrib, a city to the north, Muhammad and his followers finally left Mecca in 622 CE. Muhammad’s migration is called in Arabic the  Hijra . The word means “flight” or “migration,” and the occurrence is a central event in Islam. It marks both (1) the point at which Muhammad’s message was favorably received and (2) the start of the Islamic community (umma). For these reasons, the Muslim calendar dates the year of the Hijra as year 1. (In the West, dates according to the Muslim calendar are given as A.H.—anno Hegirae, Latin for “in the year of the Hijra.”)

Muhammad’s initial success in Yathrib was not complete. Jews there allied with his political enemies and rejected his beliefs—primarily because he accepted Jesus as a prophet and because he disputed the correctness of the Hebrew scriptures. Muhammad eventually banished or executed these enemies, and over time he gained control of the city. In Yathrib, he set up the first Islamic  mosque  (masjid), where many early rules about worship and social regulation were worked out. Yathrib is now called Medina (madinat an-nabi, “city of the prophet”). Along with Mecca and Jerusalem, Medina has become one of the three most sacred cities of Islam.

In spite of his success in Yathrib, Muhammad’s goal was always to return to Mecca, the religious center of Arabia. In a battle at Badr in 624 CE between citizens of Mecca and Yathrib, Muslim soldiers triumphed against great odds. There were skirmishes and threats and a tentative treaty over the following few years until, finally, Muhammad returned victorious to Mecca. This occurred in 630 CE. There Muhammad took control of the city, destroyed all images in the Kaaba and marketplace, and began to institutionalize his religious ideals.

Muhammad extended his control over further territory in Arabia, and at the time of his death, he was even planning to spread his religion into Syria. In his final sermon, he opposed merely tribal loyalties and preached the brotherhood of all believers. Muhammad died in Yathrib in 632 CE.

Muhammad viewed himself as the last of the long line of prophets who transmitted God’s word to humanity. He did not consider himself to be divine, but simply as an instrument in the hands of God. He and his followers saw him as a messenger who transmitted God’s will to the human world. Muslims view Muhammad as a man who showed perfection in his life, and they revere him as an ideal human being, a model for all believers.

ESSENTIALS OF ISLAM

Islam  literally means “surrender” or “submission,” indicating wholehearted surrender to God, and a Muslim is one who submits to God (Allah). The words Islam and Muslim are related to several words for peace, such as the Arabic salam and the Hebrew shalom. They suggest the inner peace that is gained by surrendering to the divine. The word Islam also can mean the community of all believers, suggesting inclusion in a large family. As the Qur’an states, “the believers are a band of brothers.” 9

At the heart of Islam is a belief in an all-powerful, transcendent God, who has created the universe and who controls it down to the smallest detail. Islam is thus Page 396a cousin to other monotheistic religions, such as Judaism and Christianity, and all three religions worship the same God. It is possible, however, that the notion of God’s power and transcendence receives the greatest emphasis in Islam. Some observers have commented that in Islam, prostration of the entire body during prayer fittingly indicates a belief in divine power and the believer’s submission to it. Prostration is compared to other characteristic prayer postures, such as kneeling, which is common in Christianity, and standing, which is common in Judaism. The physical posture of prostration illustrates well the Muslim attitude of total surrender to God.

Muslims refer to God as Allah. The word is a contraction of al (“the”) and ilah (“God”) and simply means “the God” or “God.” (The Arabic word Allah is related to El, the general Hebrew word for “God.”) Muslims explain that the word Allah is not the name of God—it simply means “God.” Muslims explain that Allah has ninety-nine names, among which are “the Merciful,” “the Just,” and “the Compassionate.” These names demonstrate that Allah is not abstract—not just an impersonal force—but has characteristics of a personal being. In the Qur’an, Allah describes himself as personal and caring, as well as all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-powerful. God, because of this personal nature and the attribute of power, is referred to in Islam in “male” terms, although, strictly speaking, God has no gender.

It is sometimes hard for non-Muslims to understand the Muslim notion that God is omnipresent and controls every detail of life. The name of God is invoked in daily conversation, particularly in the frequently used phrase, “if God wills.” People are called to prayer several times a day by a muezzin , a chanter who announces that Allah is great, greater than anything else. The chanted voice suggests that God is as active in our world as sound is active in the air, unseen but present. Some visitors to Muslim countries have remarked that people there live in a shared belief in God as easily as fish swim in water or birds fly in air. God’s active, present reality is taken for granted.

In Islamic belief, God has spoken repeatedly through human beings—prophets—revealing his mind and will. Muslims believe that divine revelation began just after the creation of the human race, when God spoke to Adam and Eve. It continued to occur, as when God spoke to patriarchs and prophets such as Abraham (Ibrahim) and Moses (Musa). Islamic belief also thinks of Jesus (Isa) as a prophet of God, although Muslims do not accept either the notion of Jesus as divine or the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Muslims believe that both Judaism and Christianity express true revelation from God, but that in various ways those religions have damaged the clarity of God’s word with their human misunderstanding. It was Muhammad, Muslims believe, who freed the divine message from human error and offered it, purified, to all people. Because he is considered the last and greatest figure in the long line of prophets, Muhammad is called the “seal of the prophets.”

Muslims trace their ancestry back to Abraham, the same patriarchal ancestor of the Jews, and to his son Ishmael (Ismail). Ishmael (as discussed in  Chapter 8 ) was conceived by Abraham and Hagar, who was a maid to Sarah, Abraham’s wife. When Sarah, at an advanced age, became pregnant and gave birth to her son Isaac, Hagar and Ishmael were forced to leave Abraham’s care, purportedly because of Sarah’s jealousy. They survived in the desert only because an angel revealed to them a source of water. Muslims believe that this source of water appeared in Mecca.Page 397

Muslims are called to prayers five times each day. At this Cairo mosque, men pray on the left, in front of an arched niche called the mihrab, which points to Mecca. Women here stand to the right of the minbar, a pulpit from which an imam may preach.©Thomas Hilgers

Muhammad learned about Judaism from the Jews who lived in Arabia. He also absorbed and considered religious elements from Christianity and Zoroastrianism—religions that share with Islam a belief in the soul, bodily resurrection, a final judgment (the Day of Doom), and an afterlife of hell for the wicked and paradise for the good. 10  All three religions also share with Islam a belief in angels and devils, who can have influence on human beings. Indeed, there are numerous similarities between Islam and other religions, and non-Muslims might speculate that Muhammad was influenced by these religions. However, Muslims hold that Muhammad’s religious ideas came directly from God.

The overall worldview of Islam—as with the other three religions—is highly dramatic. Muslims believe that good and evil forces are in constant battle and that life on earth is filled with choices that lead to the most serious consequences. This conception goes hand in hand with the overall emphasis of all Western prophetic religions on morality. Religion is viewed as a strongly ethical enterprise, and one of its most important purposes is to regulate human life. This moral emphasis appears clearly in the essential Five Pillars of Islam, which we will now consider.

The Five Pillars of Islam

All Muslims must accept and practice the following Five Pillars, so-called because they support one’s faith. The Five Pillars are mentioned in the Qur’an.

Creed (Shahadah)

“There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.” This single sentence, when recited with belief, makes a person a Muslim. It is the first sentence whispered into the ear of a newborn infant, it is recited daily in Page 398prayer, and it is written in Arabic inside the domes of mosques and over people’s doors everywhere in the Islamic world.

The most noticeable quality of the Muslim creed is its simplicity, for it emphasizes that there is only one God and that God is a unity. As the Qur’an says, “Your God is one God. There is no God but him.” 11  The simplicity of the creed is in deliberate contrast to the rather long and complicated creeds of Christianity, and within it is a rejection of several Christian notions. It rejects the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, which Muslims see as a belief in three gods. It also rejects the idea that Jesus was divine or that any human being can be divine. It emphatically does not see Muhammad as a divine or supernatural figure, but specifies his role as God’s prophet and messenger. 12

Prayer (Salat)

Devout Muslims are called on to pray five times a day—before dawn, and at midday, midafternoon, sunset, and nighttime. 13  Times for prayer are announced by a muezzin, who calls out from the top of a tower called a  minaret . (Nowadays, recordings of the call to prayer are often played over loudspeakers.) The muezzin’s call to prayer begins with Allahu akbar (“God is supreme”), 14  and it continues, “I witness that there is no God but Allah; I witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; hasten to prayer.” In towns and cities with many mosques, the call to prayer comes from the most prestigious mosque first and is then followed up by other mosques.

Before prayer, the individual is normally expected to perform a ritual purification with water, washing the hands, arms, face, neck, and feet. If water is unavailable, purification may be done with sand.

Those who pray face toward Mecca—inside a mosque the direction ( qiblah ) is indicated by a special arched niche ( mihrab ). In the earliest days of Islam, Muslims faced Jerusalem for prayer, but later revelations received by Muhammad in Yathrib changed this direction to Mecca. The Qur’an directs: “Turn your face toward the holy mosque; wherever you be, turn your faces toward it.” 15  When several people are praying together, one person acts as the leader, standing at the head of the group in front of the mihrab. Passages from the Qur’an and other prayer formulas are recited from memory in Arabic, accompanied by several basic bodily postures: standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting. Each time of prayer demands a certain number of sets (rakas) of prayers—two at morning prayer, three at dusk, and four at the other times of prayer.

Friday is the day of public prayer. On other days, people may pray privately, at home or at work or in a mosque. Originally, the day of public prayer was Saturday, following the Jewish practice. However, Muhammad received a revelation that public prayer on Friday was God’s will. In most Muslim countries, public prayer is performed at midday on Friday. Usually, only men perform public prayer at a mosque, while women ordinarily pray at home. Where women pray with men at a mosque, they normally do so in their own area, separated from the men by a curtain or screen, or located in an upstairs gallery. The Friday service usually includes a sermon by a religious leader. Although Friday is a day of public prayer, it is not necessarily a public day of rest. In many Muslim countries, offices are open on Fridays, and because of European colonial influence, the public day of rest is Sunday. Some Muslim countries, however, recognize Friday as the weekly day of public rest.Page 399

A man is at prayer in Shiraz, Iran. The shrine is the Imamzadeh-ye Ali Ebn-e Hamze.©Tim Chong/EyeEm/Getty Images RF

Charity to the Poor (Zakat)

Muhammad was troubled by injustice, inequality, and poverty, and the demand that people give to the poor was a part of his overall vision of a more just society. Islamic practice demands that believers donate certain percentages of their total income, herds, and produce from fields and orchards each year to the poor. This is not a tax on yearly income, but is rather a tax on all that one owns. The percentages vary, depending on what is taxed, but are commonly about 2.5 percent. Nowadays, government involvement in this taxation varies among Muslim countries. In addition to established yearly donations, a good Muslim is expected to perform isolated acts of generosity and charity for the poor when such acts are called for in everyday life.

In industrialized countries, government taxes commonly pay for systems of welfare, disability, social security, and other forms of assistance. This is a fairly recent phenomenon, however, that is practical only in money-based economies. Nonindustrial societies, which often use barter instead of money, depend much more on voluntary care for the poor.Page 400

Fasting during Ramadan (Sawm)

To fast means to abstain from food for a specified period of time. The purpose of fasting is to discipline oneself, to develop sympathy for the poor and hungry, and to give to others what one would have eaten. Fasting is thought to be good for one’s spiritual growth, and it is also an important bond that unites Muslims during the period of shared fasting, which is known as  Ramadan .

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, is the period during which Muhammad first received his revelations. Fasting during this month, followed by a feast of celebration at the month’s end, is considered a fitting way to remember this special event. During the month of Ramadan, devout Muslims avoid all food, liquid, tobacco, and sex from dawn until dusk. Exceptions are made with regard to food and drink for travelers, pregnant women, and the sick, but these people are expected to make up the days of fasting at a later time.

Because Islam follows a strictly lunar calendar, Ramadan occurs at a slightly different time each year, as measured by a solar calendar of 365 days. In contrast, twelve lunar months equal only 354 days. Therefore, Ramadan begins 11 days earlier each year than in the previous year. As a result, Ramadan can fall in any season. When Ramadan falls in winter, when the days are cool and short, it involves the least discomfort. However, when the month of Ramadan falls in the summer, fasting can be a great hardship. When evening finally comes and the day’s fast is ended, water and food seem like miracles.

We should note that periods of abstinence are common in many religions. The Christian observance of Lent, for about a month before Easter, is a well-known example. Another example is the Jewish practice of fasting in autumn on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

The Suleymaniye Mosque stands with its minarets at sunset in Istanbul.©David Kirkland/Perspectives/Getty Images RFPage 401

Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)

Pilgrimage—a religious journey by a believer to a sacred city or site—is a common practice in many religions. Besides fulfilling religious demands, pilgrimage offers other, less obvious rewards. It allows people to travel and to experience new sights, brings people of different backgrounds together, and engenders a sense of unity. Best of all, it becomes a powerful symbol of an interior journey to the spiritual goal of personal transformation. All Muslims, both men and women, unless prevented by poverty or sickness, are expected to visit Mecca at least once in their lifetime. Because Islam is central to the nature of Mecca, only Muslims may visit the city.

Pilgrimage to Mecca, or  Hajj , was already a practice before Muhammad was born, possibly because worshipers wanted to visit the mysterious black meteorite that long before had fallen in the area. Muhammad, following divine revelation, continued the practice of pilgrimage to Mecca. He also continued many earlier aspects of that pilgrimage—including veneration of the black meteorite. Although this veneration might seem to contradict Muhammad’s call for pure, non-idolatrous worship of the One God, the meteorite was thought of as a special gift from God. It was also connected with Abraham and even with Adam, who are said to have venerated it, and with the angel Gabriel, who was thought to have carried it to earth.

Because the present-day form of pilgrimage offers many deeply emotional experiences for believers, it deserves special description. 16  Contemporary pilgrims generally arrive by plane at Jiddah, the port city on the west coast of Saudi Arabia. In earlier times, people came by more romantic (and dangerous) methods—by boat or camel caravan. Air travel, however, has enabled people to come in great numbers. In the past, about thirty thousand people visited Mecca each year. Now at least two million people make the journey each year. In earlier days, the pilgrimage took months or even years. Some pilgrims died along the way, particularly when the special month of pilgrimage fell in the summer. Often it was the only long trip a person might ever take from a home village. Despite the enormous number of pilgrims, returning home as a hajji (male pilgrim) or hajjiyah (female pilgrim) still confers great prestige.

Muslims distinguish between the “greater pilgrimage,” which is made only during the special month of pilgrimage (dhu’l-Hijjah), and the “lesser pilgrimage,” which can be made at other times of the year as well. The lesser pilgrimage consists simply of a visit to Mecca and nearby holy sites. The greater pilgrimage, which is described in the following paragraphs, adds several days of arduous travel and ritual in the plains beyond Mecca. A trip to the city of Medina is often included.

Pilgrims first come to Mecca and are expected to arrive for the Hajj by the seventh day of the month. For men there is special clothing, called the robe of Abraham. It consists of two pieces of white, seamless cloth. One piece is worn around the waist and lower body, and the other covers the upper body and the left arm. Women have no special clothing, but many dress in white. They do not veil their faces when they are participating in the pilgrimage. The uniformity of clothing for males emphasizes the basic equality of human beings before God. In addition to the robe of Abraham and special prayers, all pilgrims are expected to refrain from sex, violence, and hunting. It is easy to see how these pilgrimages and the associated practices drastically reduced intertribal warfare on the Arabian Peninsula.Page 402

Tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims move around the Kaaba, the great cube in the center of Mecca’s Grand Mosque.©Kazuyoshi Nomachi/Corbis Documentary/Getty Images

After settling into their hotels or hostels, pilgrims proceed to the Grand Mosque. Inside the huge rectangle of the mosque area is a large courtyard, open to the sky. The four sides of the courtyard consist of pillared colonnades, which open out onto the central area and offer shade. At the center of the courtyard is the dark Kaaba shrine. It is a building approximately 50 feet high and 40 feet wide and deep. (In meters, its dimensions are approximately 15 meters high and 12 meters wide and deep.) The building is covered with a black cloth, remade every year, whose edges are embroidered in gold with words from the Qur’an. The interior of the Kaaba is virtually empty. It is entered only by dignitaries and by caretakers, who ritually cleanse the interior with rosewater. The black meteorite, known as the Black Stone, is embedded in one external wall of the building. It is visible to pilgrims as they pass it in the great courtyard.

After ceremonially purifying themselves with water, pilgrims immediately walk seven times counterclockwise around the Kaaba. As they pass the eastern corner, they kiss or salute the Black Stone, which extends from the shrine a few feet above the ground. Today the Black Stone is surrounded by silver. It has become concave, because of being touched and kissed over the years by so many millions of people.

Pilgrims during the pilgrimage days reenact important events in the life of Abraham, their forefather. Islam holds that Hagar and Abraham’s son, Ishmael, lived in the region of Mecca and that Abraham visited them here. Muslims believe that Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his son Ishmael—not Isaac, as Judaism and Christianity teach—and that the near-sacrifice took place in Mecca. In their actions, Muslims relive Abraham’s spiritual submission as a means of emulating his closeness to God.

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After walking around the Kaaba, pilgrims ritually recall Hagar and her son. A long covered corridor nearby connects the two sacred hills of Safa and Marwah, which the Qur’an calls “signs appointed by Allah.” 17  Between these two hills Hagar is believed to have searched desperately for water for her son Ishmael. Pilgrims walk speedily seven times along the corridor (the Masa), reenacting Hagar’s thirsty search. They drink water piped from the well of Zamzam in the mosque area. It is believed to be the source of water shown to Hagar by an angel.

Pilgrims walk in the Haram Mosque in Mecca.©Ahmad Faizal Yahya/Shutterstock RF

On the eighth day of the month, after another visit to the Kaaba, pilgrims go to Mina, a location outside Mecca. There they pray through the night. The next morning, the ninth day, they travel to the plain of Arafat, about twelve miles (nineteen kilometers) from Mecca. There Muhammad preached his final sermon. At noon the pilgrims hear a sermon and stand, exposed to the sun, in prayer. The day of prayer at Arafat is crucial to the experience of exaltation that the pilgrimage experience can bestow. That night is spent outdoors at Muzdalifa, halfway between Arafat and Mina.

The following day, the tenth of the month, is called the Day of Sacrifice ( Id al-Adha ). Pilgrims return to Mina, where they throw seven small stones at three walls (originally columns). It is a ritual that recalls how Abraham responded to a temptation. When demons tempted him to disobey God’s command to sacrifice his son, Abraham threw stones at them and drove them away.

Pilgrims then select for themselves and their families one animal (sheep, goat, cow, or camel) to be sacrificed to reenact another important event in Abraham’s life. After showing his willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael to God, Abraham was divinely directed instead to sacrifice a ram in place of his son. The slaughtered animal may be cooked and eaten, although many are quickly frozen and donated to charity. This act of animal sacrifice is carried out throughout the Muslim world at the same time during the month of pilgrimage.

After the sacrifice, men’s heads are shaven, women’s hair is cut, and all fingernails and toenails are trimmed to signify a new, purified life. This inaugurates a return to everyday activities. Pilgrims then return to Mecca to again walk around the Kaaba. Although this final act concludes the essential ritual of the Hajj, many pilgrims go on to visit Medina to honor the memory of Muhammad, who is buried there.

Additional Islamic Religious Practice

Islam aims at providing patterns for ideal living. Controls and prohibitions are imposed not to bring pain, but to increase social order and happiness. Where outsiders might see limitations, Muslims see instead the benefits that sensible regulations Page 404bring to individuals and societies. People who visit Muslim cultures often comment on the rarity of crime and the sense of security that people regularly feel.

 Rituals and Celebrations

THE ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS CALENDAR: FESTIVALS AND HOLY DAYS

Like other religions, Islam has developed a sequence of religious festivals and holy days. The main observances follow.

· The Day of Sacrifice (Id al-Adha, Eid al-Adha) is celebrated during the month of the Hajj, the twelfth lunar month. The head of every Muslim household is expected to sacrifice—or to pay someone to sacrifice—a sheep, goat, cow, or camel. This is done in order to recall Abraham’s sacrifice of a ram in place of his son. The meat is cooked, eaten by the family, and shared with the poor.

· The Day of Breaking the Fast (Id al-Fitr, Eid al-Fitr) is observed just after the end of the month of Ramadan, the ninth lunar month. People have parties and often visit the graves of ancestors. Sometimes, the festival goes on for three days.

· During Muharram, the first month of the Muslim year, believers remember the migration of Muhammad and his followers to Yathrib (Medina). For the Shiite branch of Islam, found primarily in Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan, the month has additional significance because it is associated with the death of Hussein, the son of Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali. The first nine days of the month are solemn, and on the tenth day, the devout reenact publicly the assassination of Hussein. Plays and processions vividly recall his death, sometimes with devotees cutting themselves and crying aloud during processions in the street.

· Muhammad’s birthday occurs on the twelfth day of the third month of the year. In some countries it is a public holiday, and in some regions the whole month is given to celebrating and reading religious texts.

· Birthdays of other holy people are variously marked by devotees in different regions and groups. Shiites observe the birthday of Ali, religious communities honor the birthdays of their founders, and the birthdays of regional saints are celebrated locally.

Although it is strict, Islamic practice also values pleasure in this world. Believers must fast during the daylight hours of Ramadan; but when evening comes, families gather to enjoy a good meal together. The same general attitude applies toward sexuality. Although sex is regulated, Muslims do not value celibacy. Muhammad was no celibate and opposed celibacy as being unnatural. In this regard, Muslims are puzzled by Jesus’s never having married and by the religious ideal of monasticism. It is within this framework of an ideal society that we should view some of the prohibitions of Islam.

Dietary Restrictions

The Qur’an forbids the consumption of pork and wine. Both Judaism and Islam view the pig as a scavenger animal, whose meat can transmit disease. Wine is forbidden because of its association with violence and addiction. Although only wine is forbidden in the Qur’an, Islam has interpreted that prohibition to include all alcohol. 18

Prohibition against Usury and Gambling

Charging interest on loans is not allowed. We might recall that in Muhammad’s day money was lent at very high rates of interest, which impoverished and exploited the borrower. Some Muslims Page 405today get around this prohibition by charging a “commission” for making a loan, although officially the loan itself is without interest. Gambling is forbidden because it is considered a dangerous waste of time and money, as well as a potential financial risk for gamblers and their families.

Circumcision

Male circumcision is a religious requirement in Islam, although it is not actually demanded by the Qur’an. Circumcision at about age 7 or 8 is common. In circumcision, a small amount of loose skin (called the foreskin) is cut off from the end of a boy’s penis. We might recall that Jews circumcise boys on the eighth day after birth. Circumcision is also common among many Christians, although for them it is not a religious commandment. It also occurs frequently in native religions. Explanations for the practice of circumcision vary. One is that the practice shows submission to the role of God in human procreation. Another relates to reasons of hygiene. In a hot climate, where daily bathing is not always possible, circumcision might serve as a preventive measure against infection. Perhaps both reasons are true. In Islam, however, circumcision is also done in imitation of Muhammad, who was circumcised.

In some primarily Muslim countries, particularly those in eastern Africa, Muslim girls are also circumcised at puberty. The act involves the removal of part or all of a girl’s external sexual organs. A common explanation is that it decreases sexual desire in the circumcised young woman, helping her to remain a virgin before her marriage and to be faithful to her husband afterward. Non-Muslims in the West commonly criticize the practice as being repressive and dangerous. However, some traditionalists see it as a valuable initiation rite and a preparation for marriage. In any case, we should recognize that it is not a Qur’anic command, nor does it have the same religious authority as does male circumcision. 19

Marriage

In Islam, marriage is basically a civil contract. Nonetheless, a certain amount of ritual has grown up around it. In traditional Muslim societies, marriage is arranged by the parents and formalized by a written contract. Usually the bridegroom’s family makes an offer of money or property to the family of the bride as a part of the contract. The marriage ceremony, which often is held at home, is essentially the witnessing and signing of the contract. A passage from the Qur’an might be read, and there is usually a feast following the signing of the contract.

After marriage, a woman takes on a new and more responsible role. As a wife, she has left the protection of her father and is now under the protection of her husband. For serious reasons, marriages can be annulled. Divorce is also possible, and it can be initiated by a wife as well as by a husband. However, there is great social and family pressure to remain married, and neither annulment nor divorce is frequent.

Death Rituals

The general simplicity of marriage ceremonies is characteristic, too, of death and funerals. Prayers from the Qur’an are recited for the dying person, and after death the body is buried in a plain white shroud. Ideally, for a male who has made the pilgrimage, the shroud is the white robe of Abraham that he wore in Mecca. The face of the deceased is turned toward Mecca at the burial, and the headstone is usually an undecorated stone marker, symbolic of the equality of all people in death. 20 Page 406

This old Qur’an, so intricately decorated, may be found in Dar al Salam at the Islamic Museum of Brunei.©David Kirkland/Perspectives/Getty Images

Scripture: The Qur’an

The name Qur’an (Koran) means “recitation.” It recalls the origins of these sacred writings in the sermons of Muhammad. The name also suggests the way in which the Qur’an is best communicated—by being recited. Although the Qur’an has been translated into many languages, only the Arabic version is considered to be fully authoritative. The beautiful sounds of the original are considered a part of its nature and are essential to its spiritual power.

The Qur’an is believed to be of divine origin, considered as God’s Word that was revealed to Muhammad during the approximately twenty years from his first revelation in 610 CE until the end of his life. Disciples memorized and wrote down the words of Muhammad’s revelations. After his death, people became concerned that variations would arise and spread. As a result, it was thought necessary to establish a single authorized version. Tradition holds that this work was begun by Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s first successor, or  caliph  (khalifa, “successor”), and that the work was finished in the caliphate of Uthman, which ended in 656 CE. However, recent scholars question this tradition, and the emergence of the authorized edition is now seen as more complex than was formerly thought. The authorized edition that did emerge became the basis for all later copies. 21

There is a repetitive quality about the Qur’an—common to memorized material—due largely to the fact that the Qur’an is not a carefully constructed argument divided into segments, nor is it a series of stories. Rather, it is a body of sermons and utterances, and it repeats images and themes in a natural way.

The Qur’an covers a wide variety of topics. It discusses figures who are also found in the Jewish and Christian Bibles: Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus, Mary, and others. It also gives practical admonitions about everyday life—about property rights, money, inheritance, marriage, and Page 407divorce. It refers to events in the life of Muhammad. It also refers to specifically religious beliefs and regulations—angels, divine judgment, fasting, and the pilgrimage. The topics and types of material are often blended together.

Islamic graves vary from country to country. In some places, graves have simple markers in the desert sand; in others—such as this cemetery in Turkey—graves may have individualized tombstones with flowers.©Thomas Hilgers

The Qur’an has 114 chapters, or  suras . Each sura has a traditional name, derived from an image or topic mentioned in it, and many of these names are evocative: “The Elephant,” “Light,” “Dawn,” “Thunder,” “The Cave,” “Smoke,” “The Mountain,” “The Moon,” “The High One.” The order of the suras does not reflect the exact order in which they were revealed. Except for the first sura, which is a brief invocation, the suras are arranged by length, from the longest to the shortest. The last chapters are extremely short—and the easiest for beginners. In general, the placement of the suras is, in fact, in reverse chronological order, with some intermixture of periods. The short suras are probably the earliest teachings of Muhammad. The long ones are the products of his final years, when the details of ideal Islamic life were being revealed to him. The suras of the Qur’an have been compared to leaves that have fallen from a tree: the first-fallen leaves are on the bottom.

The Qur’an has profoundly affected Islamic art. Indeed, some handwritten copies of the Qur’an are great artworks in themselves, often filled with gold letters and colorful geometrical designs. Because Islam generally prohibits the making of images, artists have developed the most wonderful calligraphy to record the sacred words of the Qur’an.

Frequently, the words of a phrase from the Qur’an are also cunningly interlaced to make integrated designs, and these are used to beautify mosques and religious schools (madrasas, medersas). On buildings, passages from the Qur’an are carved in stone or wood or set in mosaic. Of the many writing systems in the world, cursive Page 408Arabic, with its wondrous curves, is possibly the most visually beautiful of all. The fluid form of this writing is suggested nicely by the French word arabesque, which has entered the English language to describe a pattern of interlacing lines that are curving and graceful.

Three students read aloud from the Qur’an during the month of Ramadan. Their school is in Dhaka, Bangladesh.©Zakir Hossain Chowdhury/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The repetition of phrases and images from the Qur’an is comforting to Muslims, who have heard them recited aloud in daily prayers and in sermons since childhood. Passages are recited regularly on the radio, particularly during Ramadan, and in some countries chanted passages are also broadcast on television. Present everywhere, every day, such phrases have a hypnotic resonance. Because Arabic is an especially beautiful language, chanting the Qur’an in Arabic is an art form, and some chanters have become famous for the beauty of their voices and their interpretation of Qur’anic material.

THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM

Because his sons had not lived into adulthood, Muhammad died without a clear hereditary male successor. 22  He apparently had not appointed anyone to succeed him, 23  and the result was confusion and an unclear line of succession. This fact ultimately created significant divisions in Islam, whose effects remain today.

1. In the name of God

2. The Compassionate

3. The Merciful.

4. Praise be to God, Lord of the Universe,

5. The Compassionate, the Merciful,

6. Sovereign of the Day of Judgment!

7. You alone we worship, and to You alone we turn for help.

8.  —Opening (Al-Fatihah) of the Qur’an 24

Muhammad had asked Abu Bakr, his friend and the father of his youngest wife, to be the principal leader of prayer. Because of this position, Abu Bakr was recognized as the first caliph. When Abu Bakr died two years later, he was succeeded by Umar, the second caliph, and followed by Uthman. Both, though, were assassinated. The fourth caliph was Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali, the husband of Muhammad’s daughter Fatima. Ali, too, was assassinated, and his opponents, who ruled from Damascus, in 661 CE assumed control of Islam. This period marks the first and most significant division of Islam, which broke into two factions, Shiite and Sunni—which we will discuss shortly.

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The earliest stage of growth of Islam came during the time of the first four rulers, called the orthodox caliphs. These men had been close to Muhammad, and their home was Arabia. A major change occurred, however, as Islam spread outside Arabia. From an early, deliberate simplicity, Islam would now become more urbane and complex.

Expansion and Consolidation

Islam arose at a time that was congenial to the growth of a new political and religious power. The Byzantine Empire, ruling from Constantinople, had fought repeatedly with the Persian Empire, and both were weakened by the effort. Areas theoretically controlled by the Byzantine emperor, such as regions of northern Africa, were far away from the capital.

The weakness of the Byzantine and Persian Empires—and what Muslims believe was divine purpose—helped Islam quickly expand into their territories. Islamic armies took Syria in 635 CE and Persia in 636 CE. They began to move westward, taking control of Egypt in about 640 CE. The success was intoxicating. Islam spread across most of northern Africa over the next seventy years, and it spread across the Red Sea and Indian Ocean from Arabia to eastern Africa ( Figure 10.1 ).

FIGURE 10.1 Map of the Islamic world today.

Page 410Al Azhar in Cairo is renowned throughout the Muslim world for its Islamic learning. This is a hall where students may study together.©Wael Hamdan/age Fotostock/Alamy Stock Photo

Islamic forces entered Spain in 711 CE, when a Muslim general named Tariq landed in the south. The name Gibraltar (“mountain of Tariq”) recalls this event. In fact, Muslim forces might have spread Islam through much of Western Europe if they had not been stopped in southern France. They were defeated in 732 CE at the Battle of Tours 25  by the Christian forces of Charles Martel, the grandfather of Charlemagne. This battle—just a hundred years after the death of Muhammad—was one of the defining battles of world history.

Although Islam was stopped from expanding northward, Islamic rulers remained in Spain for nearly eight hundred years, with capitals in Córdoba and Granada. Many remember the Islamic period in Spain with nostalgia and longing, for it is universally thought to have been a paradise-like time, when the arts flourished and Muslims, Jews, and Christians generally lived together in harmony. Muslims attacked Rome and other Italian cities, but the only other significant incursion into Europe in these early centuries was into Sicily, where Islam was a force for about two hundred years.

From 661 CE to 750 CE, Islam was controlled by the Umayyad dynasty—a period called the Damascus caliphate (the caliphate was now hereditary). During this period, Islam adopted elements—from architecture to cuisine—that had been introduced to Syria by the Roman Empire. It also adopted and refined the administrative and military apparatus of a political state. This fruitful contact with Roman-influenced Syria is just one example of the genius that Islam has shown in absorbing elements from other cultures and giving them new life.

Control of Islam shifted to Baghdad in 750 CE under the Abbasid dynasty—a hereditary line that claimed connection to Muhammad. This period is known as the Baghdad caliphate, and it did not end until 1258. Some think that this was the golden age of Islam—its cultural peak. Just as the Umayyads had adopted Roman-inspired elements from Syria, so the Abbasids adopted much that was Persian—music, poetry, architecture, and garden design. Classical Greek texts on philosophy, science, Page 411and the arts were translated into Arabic. Also, under the influence of Indian artists, Islam relaxed the prohibition of images in court art, and miniature paintings and drawings of dazzling images were created. Baghdad became a world center of civilization and taste.

Islam continued to spread eastward into non-Arab cultures, and Arab domination of Islam waned as Islam spread to present-day Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India, and Bangladesh. Islam also spread into western China, where millions of Muslims still live today.

After the Mongols invaded and sacked Baghdad in 1258, the political center of Islam shifted to Egypt. Then in 1453, Muslims captured the ancient Christian capital of Constantinople. This made Constantinople the center of the Ottoman Empire, as well as of the Muslim world. This lasted until 1921, when the Ottoman Empire ended. During this long period, Islam spread, primarily through trade, to Southeast Asia. It entered southern Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia—which presently has the largest Muslim population of any country in the world. Islam also spread to Mindanao, the southernmost island of the Philippines.

Because of the great size of Islamic territory—a span from Morocco and Spain to Indonesia and the Philippines—completely centralized control was impossible. Thus, secondary centers, which were sometimes totally independent caliphates, were established. In Spain, the cities of Córdoba and, later, Granada became local political capitals, until Muslims in 1492 were expelled from Spain. In India, Delhi became the center of the Muslim Mughal (Mogul) Empire, until the British took control of the subcontinent. The fiction of a single caliph ruling all of Islam, however, was kept alive until the Ottoman caliphate in Turkey was dissolved in 1924. Some contemporary Muslims, though, would like to see the universal caliphate revived.

The Shiite and Sunni Division within Islam

Over the centuries of its growth, Islam has experienced several divisions. The most significant division is between the Shiites and Sunnis. Today about 10 to 15 percent of Islam is Shiite, and the remaining majority is Sunni ( Figure 10.2 ). The division began as a political argument over who should succeed Muhammad, but it has widened over the centuries into a division over belief, practice, and general religious approach.

FIGURE 10.2 Branches of Islam.

The real argument over succession centered on different conceptions of the caliphate. Some thought that it should be held by a man of Muhammad’s tribe (the Page 412Quraysh), someone chosen by his peers as being the person who was strongest and most capable of governing. This was a fairly practical notion of leadership. Others, however, saw the caliph as a spiritual leader, and they believed that God gave the spiritual power of the caliph only to those males who were physically descended from Muhammad’s immediate family.

Shiite pilgrims visit the Al Abbas Mosque in Karbala, Iraq.©Henry Arvidsson/Alamy Stock Photo

Shiite Islam

Shiites  derive their name from the word shia, which means “faction.” The term refers to that group of Muslims who followed Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of Muhammad. Most early Muslims accepted the legitimacy of the first four successors of Muhammad (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali). However, some early Muslims held that Muhammad had assigned Ali to be his first successor, but that a series of political and religious intrigues had initially kept Ali from the caliphate. These disagreements led to further arguments during the period of Uthman and continued even into Ali’s eventual caliphate. Muawiya, leader of the Umayyad clan, rejected Ali’s leadership. But when arbitration declared Ali to be the legitimate leader, Ali was assassinated.

Following Ali’s death, some believers held that succession rightfully belonged to his two sons, Hassan and Hussein. Ali’s first son, Hassan (625–669), renounced his right to succession, but he was poisoned nonetheless by enemies. Ali’s second son, Hussein (626–680), fought against Umayyad control. Sadly, he was killed and beheaded in Iraq, after being defeated in 680 CE at the Battle of Karbala.

Hussein’s death allowed the Umayyad dynasty to maintain control for a hundred years, but it also created strong opposition. This opposition became the Shiite movement. Shiites, who trace Muhammad’s line of succession from Ali to Hussein, see Hussein as a martyr whose heroic death is a redeeming sacrifice that invites imitation. His burial site at the main mosque of Karbala in Iraq is considered a major holy place. For Shiites, it is a center of pilgrimage.

Shiite Muslims believe that the legitimate succession was hereditary, descending from the immediate family of Muhammad. Most Shiites believe that a God-given, hereditary spiritual power, called the Light of Muhammad, has been passed to a total of twelve successors, or  Imams . For them, the first legitimate Imam was Ali. The line ended with the disappearance of the last Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, about 900 CE. According to tradition, he did not die but entered a hidden realm, from which he works by guiding Shiite scholars and leaders. Some Shiites believe that in the future he will emerge from this state to help restore Shiite Islam. They think that his reappearance in the world will usher in a messianic age, heralding the end of the world.Page 413

The interiors of major mosques are often designed to lift the spirit of worshipers. Occasionally, a mosque’s impact extends beyond its interior to include the entire neighborhood, as we see in this photo from outside Cairo’s Ibn Tulun Mosque.©Thomas Hilgers

There are several divisions within Shiite Islam. They differ on the question of how many Imams there were and on the exact line of succession. Most Shiites believe in twelve Imams, as previously mentioned, and thus are sometimes called Twelvers—Ithna Ashariya. However, members of one group, the Ismailis, are called the Seveners because they disagree with the Twelvers about the identity of the seventh Imam. They trace descent from Ismail, whom they consider to be the seventh Imam.

Disagreement over the fifth Imam produced yet another division. Called the Zaydis, they are named after Hussein’s grandson, Zayd ibn Ali. They are commonly known as the Fivers and live predominantly in Yemen. The Alawites in Syria are another Shiite group. They are unusual in that their practice has apparently been influenced by other religions. They believe in reincarnation and, in addition to Muslim holidays, they celebrate Christmas and Epiphany. Smaller groups also exist, some of which—such as the Druze of Lebanon—are not considered orthodox Muslims.

Shiite Islam has been attractive to non-Arab Muslims, who have sometimes felt that they were relegated to an inferior role in a religion whose origins were in Arabia. Iran is now the center of Shiite Islam, because of its large Shiite population. But Iraq is their spiritual home, because of its connection with Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein.

Sunni Islam

Sunni  (or Sunnite) Islam, the other great division of Islam, takes its name from the word sunna(“tradition,” “example”). The name refers to the entire body of traditional teachings that are based on the life and teachings of Muhammad, as given in the Qur’an and the authoritative hadiths.

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Sunni Islam developed to some degree in response to the claims of Shiite Islam. Because Sunnis accepted the legitimacy of the orthodox caliphates, they were compelled to develop a religious, political, legal, and cultural system that was consistent with their beliefs. The system included several elements. Among these were the caliphs, who were thought to rule in God’s name; the Qur’an and hadiths, seen as expressing God’s will; the schools that interpreted the Qur’an and hadiths; and the scholars who carried on this debate.

Traditional Islam does not separate political life from religious life. Instead, it aims at creating a public life that is shaped by the Qur’an. Although scholarly debate has been a tradition of Shiite Islam, it is particularly central to the practice of Sunni Islam, which has often been distinctive in its openness to reason and practicality.

Sunni Islam does not have the clear divisions that we see in Shiite Islam. However, it does have its own divisions. Like any large-scale human development, Sunni Islam has generated interpretations of Islam that run the spectrum from ultraconservative to very liberal.

One division that is frequently spoken of today is the Wahhabi sect, a conservative movement. It is named after its founder, Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (c. 1703–1791), who was born in Medina. The movement began in Arabia in the eighteenth century, experienced several declines, and underwent a revival in the past century. Its influence is now spreading throughout the Sunni world.

The Wahhabi movement arose from a desire to return to an ideal purity that was thought to have existed in early Islam. The Wahhabi movement emphasizes doctrinal orthodoxy, and the name that Wahhabis themselves use for their movement may be translated as “monotheism.” Muhammad, as we know, opposed polytheism and emphasized that worship be reserved for God alone. A continual struggle, therefore, goes on in Islam over the veneration of deceased teachers, leaders, and holy persons. Should they have shrines or special tombs? Should memorial days be celebrated for them? Should they be prayed to or referred to in prayer? The Wahhabis have opposed veneration of deceased people, no matter how saintly, saying that such veneration takes away from the unique worship of the One God. Thus, Wahhabis do not even celebrate the birthday of Muhammad, and some oppose visiting his burial place in Medina. (Wahhabis earlier destroyed the shrines built to honor Muhammad and his companions.) The Wahhabi movement also has a strongly moral dimension. Among its goals are simplicity, modesty, separation in public of males and females, and strict prohibition of alcohol.

Another reform movement began in India in 1867. The Deobandi movement is named after the town of Deoband, north of Delhi, where the first school was established. This sect resembles the Wahhabis in its emphasis on a simplified Islam: veneration given solely to God, rejection of devotion to saints, and strong differences between male and female social roles. Yet it gives great attention to the importance of Muhammad and his early companions, who are thought of as role models for Muslims. It argues that education should be entirely religious—it should be based only on the Qur’an and hadiths. Thus, this movement tends to oppose education in business and in modern science.

A conservative movement that is spreading to many countries is called Salafi (or Salafist). Its name comes from admiration of the “forefathers” (salaf), the earliest Page 415generations of believers. It sees itself as returning to an ideal form of Islam. Its ideal figures are Muslims who knew Muhammad and their early descendants. The contemporary movement embraces a wide variety of political positions, and it includes those who justify violence as well as those who wish to avoid all political involvement.

These fairly strict movements have come into existence because Sunni Islam encompasses so many countries and millions of individuals with varied degrees of commitment. Within the immense numbers of Sunnis—who make up almost 90 percent of all Muslims—many are simply “cultural Muslims.” They have been born into the faith but pick and choose the customs that they wish to follow. The most devout visit a mosque daily and follow all requirements about prayer, charity, and fasting. Others would call themselves moderate Muslims, attending the Friday prayer and doing some daily prayer, but not being otherwise involved. Some limit their practice to prayer at a mosque only on major festivals. Many observe the fast of Ramadan, at least in public, but some do not or choose to do it only rarely. Hence, the appeal of reformers. (We see something similar among Christians who attend church only at Christmas and Easter or among Buddhists whose religious practice is confined to attending Buddhist funerals.)

Another common pattern in some Sunni regions is the blending of Islam with older, local elements. One striking example is the traditional form of Islam in Indonesia, which is blended with Indonesian Hinduism and includes ceremonies to honor spirits of nature. A news article described one typical service on the island of Java:

“In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful,” the turbaned priest begins in the orthodox Muslim style. … As the annual labuhan ceremony unfolds, he blesses the various offerings the Sultan of Yogyakarta has prepared for Loro Kidul, the goddess of the surrounding seas: silk, curry, bananas, hair and toenail clippings. The goddess, apparently, will be pleased with these items when they are carried in procession to the sea and thrown in, as will another local deity, who receives similar gifts tossed into a nearby volcano. 26

Clearly, this service—which resembles ceremonies that one might also see in Hindu Bali—owes much to the nature worship and to the Hinduism that preceded the coming of Islam.

Similar blending can be found in many countries—particularly those that are away from the centers of orthodoxy—such as in western Africa and Southeast Asia. For many people, Islam is a veneer over much older practices. All mixed forms of Islam, however, can be—and often are—the object of reformers’ criticism.

Liberal movements have also regularly emerged, although they have not yet coalesced into a clearly defined sect. Perhaps this is because they have spread largely from books espousing their ideas. These movements argue that Muhammad was a humanitarian reformer and that he himself would reinterpret his insights in light of modern needs. The liberal movements urge, in addition to religious studies, the study of science and business. They point out the early achievements of Islam in medicine, astronomy, and other sciences, and they encourage the continuation of this type of achievement. Perhaps the most influential of these liberal developments has been the Aligarh movement. Its founder, Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817–1898), began a Page 416college at Aligarh, in India, which he devoted to the principles of modern education. His ideas, promoted widely by his books and disciples, remain influential. Such ideas inspire like-minded groups in many countries.

Because Mecca is located in Saudi Arabia, it is one center of power in modern Sunni Islam. This—and the influence of a reformist movement—has meant that the government of Saudi Arabia expects its country to be a model of proper Muslim belief and behavior. Tourists and foreign workers, who have been forbidden from importing alcohol, have sometimes been shocked to discover the restrictions. This has also led to occasional friction, particularly with Iran, which reflects the long-standing differences between Sunni and Shiite points of view.

Another center of power in the Sunni world is Egypt. Its universities, particularly Al-Azhar in Cairo, give it prestige as an interpreter of Islam; and the large Muslim population of Egypt makes that country politically important in the Muslim world.

SUFISM: ISLAMIC MYSTICISM

Islam began as a rather austere religion. But as it moved beyond Arabia, Islam came into contact with the luxurious lifestyle of the settled old cities in the Near East and northern Africa. The Umayyad dynasty ruled Islam for one hundred years from Damascus, which even then was an ancient city. Damascus had become one of the most important cities in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, and it had retained its prominent role under the Byzantine Empire. The caliphate of Damascus simply carried on the aristocratic lifestyle already present.

Islam had contact not only with sophisticated city dwellers there, but also with the Christian monks and hermits who lived elsewhere in Syria and in Israel and Egypt. The monks’ simple lives made a great impression on Muslims, who seemed to desire something similar for Islam. Because Islam rejected celibacy as a religious ideal, the Christian model of monasticism could not be imitated exactly. What emerged, however, were lay individuals who cultivated the spiritual life on their own and groups of devotees loosely organized around charismatic spiritual leaders.

Sufism  is the name of an old and widespread devotional movement—or group of movements—in Islam. The name Sufism is thought to derive from the Arabic word suf (“wool”) because early Sufis wore a simple robe made of common wool. It is possible that this type of ordinary cloth was not only practical, but also a visual statement opposing needless luxury. Sufism has been a religious movement that values deliberate simplicity.

Sufism, though, was not only a reaction against superficial luxury. The movement also grew out of a natural desire to do more than the merely formalistic. As Islam defined itself further, establishing religious practice in even the smallest areas of life, it was possible for some people to think that “keeping the rules” was all there was to being a good Muslim. Sufism, however, recognized that it is possible to “go through the motions” but to leave the heart uninvolved. As a result, Sufism sought the involvement of emotions. Because of this it has been called “the heart of Islam.”Page 417

Sufi Beliefs

The core of the Sufi movement is its mysticism—its belief that the highest experience a person can have is a direct experience of God. Sufism holds that an individual can, on earth, experience God “face to face.” Moreover, it teaches that experiencing God is the whole purpose of life, not something that can happen only after death.

Sufi mysticism was encouraged by several religious movements that had been active in Egypt and Syria long before Sufism arose in the seventh and eighth centuries CE. One was Neoplatonism, a mystical philosophical school that began in Alexandria in Egypt with Plotinus (c. 205–270 CE). Plotinus’s work, The Enneads, spoke of the emergence of the entire cosmos from the One and the journey of the soul as it returns to its divine origin. Another movement that influenced Sufism was Gnosticism, which similarly saw life as a spiritual journey of increasing understanding. Gnosticism produced its own literature and interpreted other religious literature symbolically. Christian forms of Neoplatonism and Gnosticism flourished in Syria not long before the Umayyad period and produced such books as The Divine Names and The Mystical Theology by Pseudo-Dionysius, who is thought to have been a Syrian Christian monk of the sixth century. It is also possible that influences from Hindu mysticism, coming from India into Persia, were behind a great flowering of Islamic mystical poetry.

Sufis saw in the Qur’an a number of passages that invited mystical interpretation. These became their favorites. A beloved passage says that Allah is so near to every human being that he is even “closer than the jugular vein.” 27  Another favorite passage says, “Whether you hide what is in your hearts or manifest it, Allah knows it.” 28

1. To God belongs the east and the west. Whichever way you turn, there is the face of God.

2.  —Qur’an 29

The image of Muhammad also took on new meaning. To the Sufis, Muhammad was himself a mystic. He lived a life of deliberate simplicity, sought God, and had profound revelations. Because he submitted himself so fully to God’s will, in his Night Journey he was carried up to the highest heaven, where he spoke with God as one friend speaking to another friend. This event, the scholar A. J. Arberry remarks, “for the Sufis constitutes the Prophet’s supreme mystical experience and an example which they may aspire to follow.” 30

One of the great early Sufi saints was Rabia (c. 717–801 CE), who left behind ecstatic writings that speak of God as her divine lover. She is famous for her statement that she sought God not because of fear of hell or desire for heaven, but simply for himself alone. In other words, she sought God not for her sake but for his.

Sufis have commonly spoken about the sense of loss of self ( fana , “extinction”) that occurs in mystical experience: when the self is gone, all that remains is God. Some Sufis have spoken about this experience in language that has been shocking to the orthodox—their mystical descriptions seeming to weaken the distinction between God and his created world, which is strong in orthodox Islam. Their descriptions could even seem to embrace pantheism, the belief that everything is God. The Persian mystic Abu Yazid (d. 875 CE), when he was in ecstasy, is reputed to have said, “Glory be to me—how great is my majesty.” 31  Al-Hallaj (d. 922 CE) was one of the most alarming Sufi figures. He publicly and repeatedly applied a name for God to himself, calling himself al-Haqq (“the Truth,” “the Real,” or “Reality Itself”). His comments were so shocking to his contemporaries that they executed him.Page 418

 Deeper Insights

ZOROASTRIANISM

Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion that was once widespread in the Middle East. Although today it is fairly small, it was once a religion of millions, and its influence spread far beyond its home in Persia. Because other religions that originated in the same region share many distinctive elements with Zoroastrianism, there is lively debate about its role in their development and spread. Some see possible influence on the worldview of the Essenes (a semimonastic faction of Judaism), early Christianity, and Islam. New Year’s customs that are still practiced today in Iran certainly reflect Zoroastrian influence.

The prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster), the founder of the religion, was born about 650BCE, in what is now Iran. Zarathustra was surrounded by the worship of nature gods, common to the Aryan religion, which was also practiced in India. As in Indian Vedic religion, the religion of Zarathustra’s culture involved the worship of gods at fire altars, the use of a ritual drink (haoma, like the Vedic soma), and a hereditary priesthood. Like the Buddha after him, Zarathustra was distressed by the sacrifice of animals at the fire altars and by the power of the priests.

At about the age of 30, Zarathustra experienced a vision that changed his life. He felt himself transported heavenward by a spirit he called Vohu Manah (“good mind”). He came into the presence of the High God Ahura Mazda (“wise lord”), a god associated in Zarathustra’s mind with cosmic justice. Like the calls received by Isaiah and Muhammad, this revelation led Zarathustra to preach his new message. At first, Zarathustra was met with strong rejection, which he blamed on demons (daevas) and the satanic head of evil forces, Angra Mainyu (“wicked spirit”). Zarathustra’s bitter experiences deepened his sense that evil forces constantly oppose the forces of goodness. He was undaunted, however, and his preaching eventually converted an Iranian king, Vishtaspa, who used his power to spread Zarathustra’s new religion. Zarathustra condemned animal sacrifices, but he maintained the ceremonial use of the Aryan fire altar. Although fire was not to be worshiped, Zarathustra considered it to be symbolic of divine goodness. Tradition relates that Zarathustra died in his 70s, killed by invaders while praying at his fire altar.

What we know of Zarathustra comes from the most ancient part of the Avesta, the Zoroastrian scriptures. They teach of a High God, Ahura Mazda, who expresses himself through good spirits, whose names are virtues. Whether these spirits are simply aspects of Ahura Mazda or independent beings is unclear. The most important is called Spenta Mainyu (“holy spirit”). Others, for example, have names that mean “power,” “devotion,” “immortality,” and “obedience.” (We find some tantalizing similarities in the Jewish mystical literature of the Kabbalah, in Gnosticism, and in some New Testament letters. See  Chapters 8  and  9 .)

Although Zoroastrianism is ultimately monotheistic, it sees the universe in morally dualistic terms. Forces of good are in perpetual conflict with forces of evil—a conflict that mysteriously began at the start of time. Each person is involved in this cosmic struggle and thus must make moral choices between good and evil. Good actions include telling the truth and dealing honestly with others—in the Avesta, good actions include cultivating farmland and treating animals kindly. There is a belief in divine judgment and in an afterlife of reward or punishment. The afterlife begins at death, when each individual’s soul must cross a bridge that can lead to paradise. If the individual has been good, the bridge is wide and the journey to paradise is easy; but if the individual has been evil, the bridge becomes so narrow that the soul falls into the depths of hell.

Zoroastrianism also presents an apocalyptic vision of the end of time. When the world comes to an end, there will be a resurrection of all bodies and a great general judgment. At this time the world will be purified by fire, which will punish the evil but leave the good untouched.

Zoroastrianism has long been a highly ritualistic religion. At the center of its worship is the fire altar, where priests dressed in white attend an eternal flame. To keep the flame from impurity, an attendant must wear a white cloth (padan) that covers his nose and mouth. Believers who come to pray take off their shoes and touch the door frame reverently.

The central festival is NoRuz, a New Year’s festival that is held at the time of the spring equinox, on or near March 21. It is celebrated not only by Zoroastrians but Page 419also by Iranians of many faiths, who do spring cleaning, wear new clothing, and eat festive meals. Jumping over outdoor fires is a unique practice—it is thought to bring health during the coming year. Because seven is a sacred number, people create side tables at home with seven ritual items, many of which are symbolic of new life. These may include new green shoots of wheat, colored hardboiled eggs, garlic, wine or vinegar, candles, a mirror, and a bowl of goldfish. Meals made of seven other foods, such as apples, pudding, dried fruit, and pastries, are also eaten. These groups of seven originally recalled Ahura Mazda and the six Holy Immortals, the spirits through whom Ahura Mazda expresses himself.

A woman is at prayer in the Zoroastrian fire temple in Baku, Azerbaijan.©Julien Garcia/Hemis/Alamy Stock Photo

Contemporary Zoroastrianism is threatened by its dwindling numbers. Although Zoroastrianism was once the widespread state religion of Persia, only about fifty thousand Zoroastrians live in Iran today. Large numbers moved to India more than a thousand years ago, where they settled in Mumbai (Bombay) and created their own distinctive culture. In India, they are called Parsees (“Persians”) and number about a hundred thousand. Because of their regard for education and hard work, their contributions to science, industry, and music in India have been extraordinary. As a result of recent emigration, perhaps another fifty thousand Zoroastrians live in large cities in North America, England, and Australia.

Page 420Women are at prayer in the Nizam ud Din shrine in Delhi, India.©Arterra/UIG via Getty Images

Sufis continued to come into conflict with religious authorities, who feared that Sufi meeting places would supplant the mosques and that a vague command simply to love would replace the clearer, specific commands of traditional Islam. The veneration of both living and dead Sufi masters also seemed to the orthodox to be opposed to the traditional demand to worship God alone.

Al-Ghazali and Sufi Brotherhoods

The conflict was softened by the life and work of the scholar al-Ghazali (or al-Ghazzali, 1058–1111). Al-Ghazali was a renowned professor in Baghdad who adopted Sufism. In his autobiography, he says that despite the respect his job gave him, he was deeply unhappy. What he was doing did not seem important to his own spiritual life. He was torn between leaving his post and staying on in comfort. At last, he followed an inner voice that demanded that he go “on the road.” He did this for more than ten years, traveling in Syria and Arabia and living simply. He eventually returned to Baghdad and formed a brotherhood of Sufis, but he insisted on keeping orthodox law and practice as well. His blend of Sufism with traditional practice, his later books on Sufism, and his scholarly reputation made an indelible mark on Islam. He explained that the Sufi language of “extinction” (fana) is metaphorical, which he compared to “the words of lovers passionate in their intoxication,” 32  or to a diver lost in the sea. 33  His explanations of Sufism and his prestige gave a legitimacy to Sufism that it had not had before. Sufism and orthodoxy no longer needed to run like parallel lines, never meeting. Now they could enrich each other.

Page 421

After al-Ghazali, more Sufi brotherhoods were founded and their techniques became slightly more institutionalized. Disciples gathered around a master. The disciple—in Arabic called faqir and in Persian darwish, meaning “poor”—would learn a distinctive spiritual discipline (tariqa) from the shaykh, a Sufi expert. Often a master and his disciples lived in a compound of many buildings, and the life was semimonastic. Laypersons could also be associated with the religious order, even while living an outwardly secular life. 34

A dervish of the Mevlevi Sufi order dances in this ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey.©Gavin Hellier/AWL Images/Getty Images

Many Sufi orders emerged and spread widely. One of the most famous was the Maulawiya (in Turkish, Mevlevi), founded by Jalal-ud-Din Rumi (1207–1273). Born in Persia, Rumi eventually settled in what is today Turkey. Rumi’s exquisite poetry is now well known beyond the Muslim world. His great work is called Mesnevi (or Mathnawi). The Maulawiya order became famous for its type of circular dance, which Rumi asserted could assist mystical experience. (The English phrase whirling dervish refers to a member of this order, and the Mevlevi dance is still performed in Konya, where Rumi lived, and in other places.) Among other orders to emerge, with different emphases, were the Qadiri, Suhrawardi, and Naqshbandi.

Sufi Practice and Poetry

Sufism has incorporated many techniques to encourage spiritual insight, some possibly derived from Hindu yoga or from Christian monastic practice in the Middle East. One technique involved jerking the head to encourage an upward flow of blood during prayer. Two other techniques were deep, regular breathing during meditation and the repetition of the ninety-nine names of Allah ( dhikr ), sometimes counted on a rosary, to enable a constant remembrance of God. Some groups used music and others used spinning or dancing in circles or occasionally ingesting wine and psychedelic plants to alter consciousness.

Sufism has also used poetry in the same allegorical and symbolic ways. When read one way, a poem might resemble the lyrics of a romantic song. Read another way, the same poem might suggest a longing for God, a search for God, or the ecstasy of final union with God. Sufism has inspired some of the world’s greatest poets, as famous in the Muslim world as are Shakespeare and Goethe in the West.

Until recent decades, only one Muslim poet was well known in English-speaking countries. Omar Khayyám (c. 1048–1122), who was also an astronomer and mathematician, gained fame in the West from a late Victorian translation by Edward Page 422FitzGerald of the long poem The Rubaiyat.Many people are familiar with “a jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou”—a line taken from the poem that brings to mind a romantic picnic. But a Sufi could interpret the jug of wine (intoxicating but suspect) as ecstasy, a loaf of bread as a symbol of the depth of ordinary reality, and “thou” as the divine Thou—God. Through modern translations, many great Sufi poets, such as Rumi, Hafiz (c. 1325–1390), and Jami (1414–1492), are gaining recognition.

 Deeper Insights

THE MEANING OF MUSLIM NAMES

Muslim names, mostly from Arabic, can sound exotic to some Western ears. Their meanings, though, frequently involve everyday virtue and beauty. Many names refer to religion, particularly by making reference to Allah or by recalling the names of Muhammad or of his wives, children, and companions. Some names are used for females, others for males, and some have both male and female forms (whose spellings may vary). Among the most common names are these:

1. Abdul: “servant [of God]”

2. Abdullah: “servant of Allah”

3. Afaf: “modesty”

4. Aida: “returning”

5. Aisha: “generous” (name of a wife of Muhammad)

6. Amal: “hope”

7. Amin (m.), Aminah (f.): “faithful”

8. Barak (Barack): “blessing”

9. Hassan: “lovely”

10. Hussein (Husayn): “lovely”

11. Iman: “belief”

12. Jamal: “beauty”

13. Jamila: “beautiful”

14. Kareem (m.), Kareema (f.): “generous, noble”

15. Khalid: “eternal”

16. Latifah: “gentle”

17. Leena: “tender”

18. Mahmoud: “praised”

19. Mustafa: “chosen”

20. Noor: “light”

21. Nurdeen: “light of religion”

22. Rasheed (m.), Rasheeda (f.): “wise”

23. Saleem (m.), Saleema (f.): “safe, whole”

24. Shafiq: “compassionate”

25. Shakira: “grateful”

26. Shareef: “noble”

27. Tareef: “rare”

28. Waheed: “unequaled”

29. Zahir (m.), Zahira (f.): “shining”

There is a warmth about Sufism that appeals to the ordinary layperson, and some Sufi groups have served as fraternal societies, providing comfort to those in distress, helping the poor, and even burying the dead. Sufism’s characteristic warmth and practicality helped Islam spread to countries far from its place of origin, such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Sufi connection with common people, however, has sometimes made the orthodox think of Sufism as a superstitious folk religion. Although mosques are plentiful and visible in the Islamic world, Sufi meeting places are hard to find, as are individuals who will actually admit to being Sufis. Luckily, however, Sufism has been buoyed in recent years by a growing appreciation for Sufi poetry and practice.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Visit to a Mosque

Some mosques are very grand, with high domes, marble pillars, and thick carpets. Others are more humble—especially those in villages or down the back streets of towns. These mosques can surprise visitors, who might think that a mosque is like a temple or a church. The floors in these smaller mosques can be linoleum. Fluorescent bulbs overhead buzz. The windows are open, and the sounds of traffic and of people come in easily. In some mosques, men even are taking a nap, lying next to the walls or beside pillars. These people might be travelers from another town, taking a rest. It is always interesting to go inside a mosque, to sit there quietly, and to sense the “atmosphere” of the room.

In northern China, I learned about a nearby mosque that, I was told, was not large. Yet parts of it were extremely old, and the ceiling of the main building was beautifully painted. The trees in the courtyard were also old and beautiful. It would be worth seeing, I was told. I was told that I could at least walk through the mosque courtyards and school and enjoy the old trees. I was warned, though, that the prayer hall might not be open. Who could resist?

I took a taxi. I toured the courtyards and looked into the religious school, which was empty. I went around to the entry door of the prayer hall. Indeed, there at the right of the door was a small sign, “visitors are not allowed.” I sat under a large tree near the main hall to enjoy the shade.

A very elderly gentleman, dressed in a white robe, soon came by. He stopped, smiled, and then decisively raised the index finger of his right hand. Then he tilted his head, as if asking a question. I wasn’t sure of his meaning, but thought that I might. I nodded my head to indicate yes, and I slowly raised the index finger of my Page 424right hand and held it in front of my face. “God is one,” his finger seemed to say. “Yes,” my hand answered, “God is one.”

Visitors tour a mosque courtyard in Beijing, China. The complex includes a place of prayer, a school, and a low central tower.©China Photos/Alamy Stock Photo

The old man smiled kindly and took my hand. He led me around to a small side door. He and I took off our shoes and left them there outside. The man then took me into the prayer hall. Inside, a man on the far left was making prostrations on the carpet. Another man, near the front on the right, was standing in prayer. Otherwise, the room was empty.

The old gentleman and I sat on the carpet in the back near a pillar and experienced the silence together.

ISLAMIC LAW AND PHILOSOPHY

Islamic thought focuses on both practice and belief. It asks, How should I live my life according to God’s will, and how am I to understand and relate to God? Over the first five hundred years of Islam, these questions were debated intensely, and some basic principles were acknowledged. Islam also recognized that there could be reasonable disagreement. Thus, various schools of opinion emerged.

Because the Qur’an does not give specific laws for every possible human situation, Muslims have found it necessary to discuss how to interpret the Qur’an. Muslims believe that the Qur’an offers principles for correct guidance in all of human life; but rules for specific instances have to be worked out by considering parallels and utilizing those basic principles.

The Qur’an is, of course, the primary authority. Also authoritative are the hadiths—remembrances of Muhammad’s words and actions. The most important collection is that of al-Bukhari (died in c. 870), which contains almost three thousand hadiths. The use of hadiths enlarged the body of material that could be drawn on for guidance, but it also created problems of its own. Disagreement about which hadiths were genuine prevented their universal acceptance. Also, even apparently worthy hadiths showed inconsistencies.

Islam has a long history of scholarly debate. Over the centuries, from the eighth century on, four major schools of Islamic law have emerged in Sunni Islam and three schools in Shiite Islam. Each school differs somewhat on what it has looked to as an authoritative guide for making judgments in particular cases. Examples of such cases are these: On what grounds, may a wife request a divorce? Can a village without a mosque be taxed and forced to build one? How many witnesses are necessary to legitimize a marriage? And so on. In arriving at decisions, scholars have relied on a variety of authoritative elements: the Qur’an (which has been interpreted both literally and symbolically), the hadiths, logic, precedents, analogy (qiyas), the consensus of early jurists, and the decisions of earlier religious scholars.

Islamic Law and Legal Institutions

Islamic law, called  Sharia  (also spelled Shariah), is the entire body of laws that guides the believer. The legal ideal of Islam is different from what is now considered the norm in many countries. Most modern industrialized countries expect laws to reflect a kind of civilized minimum—something that all citizens, of any background or belief, can be expected to accept and obey in their public life. Often, these laws have a distant religious background, but they are framed for very diverse populations Page 425and are deliberately secular in nature. In everyday life, we often hear a distinction made between church and state. In industrialized countries, the two realms—secular and religious—generally exist somewhat apart.

The traditional Islamic ideal, however, does not separate religious and secular spheres, and this ideal is the subject of intense argument in strongly Muslim countries today. In the traditional Islamic ideal, laws bring everyday life into ever-closer harmony with the regulations of the Qur’an and traditional teaching.

Traditional Islam is theocratic, seeking the “rule of God” in all aspects of everyday life. In its view, there is only one God and one correct religion. Nature is orderly because it follows the laws of God spontaneously. For example, gravitation governs the movement of the planets and the change of tides. Similarly, in Islamic thought God presents human beings with laws of human order. There cannot be different sets of laws for different human beings. Otherwise, chaos would ensue. The laws of God must be obeyed not only because they are his commands, but also because they lead to human fulfillment.

Of course, this ideal of a single religion guiding an entire society has rarely been attained. Muhammad himself recognized that there must be exceptions. Although he insisted that people who followed tribal folk religion convert to Islam, he was more lenient toward Jews and Christians. In fact, he allowed Jews and Christians to continue their own laws and practices—although they were charged a special tax for this right. In Muhammad’s eyes, Jews and Christians were “people of the book” and were thus considered as followers of the same general “religion of Abraham” as were Muslims—although living at a less perfect level.

Some governments, such as that of Iran since 1979, have imposed a theocratic rule. There and in a few other strongly Muslim countries, the rules of the Qur’an and the rulings of religious scholars have had great political power. Although Islam does not have an official clergy, it does have religious specialists and scholars (ulama, mullahs) who have various levels of influence, both religious and political.

Islamic Philosophy and Theology

Many profound questions emerged quite naturally as early thinkers began to consider the basic beliefs of Muhammad and of Islam. One of the first questions regarded intellectual investigation itself. Is a good Muslim allowed to question religious topics? Does the philosophical study of religion (kalam,“theology”) hurt a person’s spiritual life, or can it deepen it? Do faith and reason contradict each other, or can they coexist happily?

In theory, there is a distinction between philosophy and theology. Philosophy considers all questions by the light of reason alone, without making use of religious revelation. Theology, however, mixes philosophy and religion, for it uses philosophy to investigate religious doctrines. In reality, pure philosophy is rather difficult to find because the religion of a surrounding culture will inevitably color both the questions and the methods of its philosophers. This happened frequently, as we will see, from the beginning of Islam.

Early thinkers posed important questions that had to be addressed. Some questions were simply intriguing, but others presented serious philosophical problems. For example, the Qur’an calls God both just and merciful. Yet how is it possible to be strictly just and also to be truly merciful? Doesn’t one virtue exclude the other? Or a second question: If God is truly all-powerful, how can a human being really Page 426be free to make a choice? Doesn’t God make everything happen? And even when human beings think they are acting by their own choice, isn’t God really doing the choosing? Or another question: If God is all-loving, why does he allow bad things to happen? Wouldn’t an all-loving God prevent evil things from happening in the world? The list of many similar questions goes on almost without end.

Some philosophical questions arose early as a result of studying the Qur’an. Others, however, emerged as Islam encountered the philosophies and religions of its neighbors, such as when Greek philosophical works were first translated into Arabic and were then taught in the great schools of Baghdad, Córdoba, and Cairo. Aristotle, for example, taught that the universe was eternal. But didn’t this conflict with the Qur’an’s vision of God as creator of the universe? Further questions arose when Islam moved into India and had contact with monistic forms of Hindu spirituality. Certain schools of Hindu thought taught that everything, ultimately, is God. Doesn’t this notion conflict, though, with the Muslim notion that Allah, as creator, is different from his creation?

In general, there have been two philosophical poles within Islam. The more liberal view values reason and maintains that everything can be examined intellectually. It argues that human beings are basically free and that reason is a God-given gift that illuminates and complements faith. The other, more conservative view is suspicious of reason, which it sometimes sees as an expression of false human pride. It therefore values intellectual submission, believing that ultimately neither God nor anything else can be explained fully by reason. It tends to see the entire universe, including human lives, as being strongly determined by God. Like a pendulum, the history of Islamic thought has swung back and forth between these two poles.

The value that Islam has placed on philosophical reasoning appears in the works of two Muslim thinkers who are considered prominent figures of world philosophy. They are Ibn-Sina (980–1037) and Ibn-Rushd (1126–1198), known in medieval European philosophy by their Latin names Avicenna and Averroës, respectively. Because of their interest in medicine and the natural sciences, as well as philosophy, they thought that using reason to explore nature would give insight into nature’s Creator.

Perhaps the most influential philosophical formulations, however, were more conservative. They came from al-Ghazali (mentioned earlier) and his intellectual disciple al-Arabi (d. 1240). Both rejected rationalism. Defending the conservative approach, al-Ghazali wrote two influential books: The Incoherence of the Philosophers and The Revival of the Religious Sciences. In these books, he showed the inconsistency of several philosophers who had based their thought on the opinions of Aristotle. Al-Ghazali criticized philosophy for generating arguments and false pride, and he distanced himself from both rational theology and legalism. The elements that he considered to be the core of religion, instead, were direct religious experience and submission of the heart to God—ideals attainable by anyone, not just by philosophers.

Al-Arabi continued this line of thought; influenced also by Sufism, however, he moved even further in a mystical, monistic direction. For him, all apparently separate realities were images of God, and all activity was ultimately the activity of God. 35  Submission to God meant a lived awareness of God’s active presence in all things.

ISLAMIC LAW AND PHILOSOPHY

Islamic thought focuses on both practice and belief. It asks, How should I live my life according to God’s will, and how am I to understand and relate to God? Over the first five hundred years of Islam, these questions were debated intensely, and some basic principles were acknowledged. Islam also recognized that there could be reasonable disagreement. Thus, various schools of opinion emerged.

Because the Qur’an does not give specific laws for every possible human situation, Muslims have found it necessary to discuss how to interpret the Qur’an. Muslims believe that the Qur’an offers principles for correct guidance in all of human life; but rules for specific instances have to be worked out by considering parallels and utilizing those basic principles.

The Qur’an is, of course, the primary authority. Also authoritative are the hadiths—remembrances of Muhammad’s words and actions. The most important collection is that of al-Bukhari (died in c. 870), which contains almost three thousand hadiths. The use of hadiths enlarged the body of material that could be drawn on for guidance, but it also created problems of its own. Disagreement about which hadiths were genuine prevented their universal acceptance. Also, even apparently worthy hadiths showed inconsistencies.

Islam has a long history of scholarly debate. Over the centuries, from the eighth century on, four major schools of Islamic law have emerged in Sunni Islam and three schools in Shiite Islam. Each school differs somewhat on what it has looked to as an authoritative guide for making judgments in particular cases. Examples of such cases are these: On what grounds, may a wife request a divorce? Can a village without a mosque be taxed and forced to build one? How many witnesses are necessary to legitimize a marriage? And so on. In arriving at decisions, scholars have relied on a variety of authoritative elements: the Qur’an (which has been interpreted both literally and symbolically), the hadiths, logic, precedents, analogy (qiyas), the consensus of early jurists, and the decisions of earlier religious scholars.

Islamic Law and Legal Institutions

Islamic law, called  Sharia  (also spelled Shariah), is the entire body of laws that guides the believer. The legal ideal of Islam is different from what is now considered the norm in many countries. Most modern industrialized countries expect laws to reflect a kind of civilized minimum—something that all citizens, of any background or belief, can be expected to accept and obey in their public life. Often, these laws have a distant religious background, but they are framed for very diverse populations Page 425and are deliberately secular in nature. In everyday life, we often hear a distinction made between church and state. In industrialized countries, the two realms—secular and religious—generally exist somewhat apart.

The traditional Islamic ideal, however, does not separate religious and secular spheres, and this ideal is the subject of intense argument in strongly Muslim countries today. In the traditional Islamic ideal, laws bring everyday life into ever-closer harmony with the regulations of the Qur’an and traditional teaching.

Traditional Islam is theocratic, seeking the “rule of God” in all aspects of everyday life. In its view, there is only one God and one correct religion. Nature is orderly because it follows the laws of God spontaneously. For example, gravitation governs the movement of the planets and the change of tides. Similarly, in Islamic thought God presents human beings with laws of human order. There cannot be different sets of laws for different human beings. Otherwise, chaos would ensue. The laws of God must be obeyed not only because they are his commands, but also because they lead to human fulfillment.

Of course, this ideal of a single religion guiding an entire society has rarely been attained. Muhammad himself recognized that there must be exceptions. Although he insisted that people who followed tribal folk religion convert to Islam, he was more lenient toward Jews and Christians. In fact, he allowed Jews and Christians to continue their own laws and practices—although they were charged a special tax for this right. In Muhammad’s eyes, Jews and Christians were “people of the book” and were thus considered as followers of the same general “religion of Abraham” as were Muslims—although living at a less perfect level.

Some governments, such as that of Iran since 1979, have imposed a theocratic rule. There and in a few other strongly Muslim countries, the rules of the Qur’an and the rulings of religious scholars have had great political power. Although Islam does not have an official clergy, it does have religious specialists and scholars (ulama, mullahs) who have various levels of influence, both religious and political.

Islamic Philosophy and Theology

Many profound questions emerged quite naturally as early thinkers began to consider the basic beliefs of Muhammad and of Islam. One of the first questions regarded intellectual investigation itself. Is a good Muslim allowed to question religious topics? Does the philosophical study of religion (kalam,“theology”) hurt a person’s spiritual life, or can it deepen it? Do faith and reason contradict each other, or can they coexist happily?

In theory, there is a distinction between philosophy and theology. Philosophy considers all questions by the light of reason alone, without making use of religious revelation. Theology, however, mixes philosophy and religion, for it uses philosophy to investigate religious doctrines. In reality, pure philosophy is rather difficult to find because the religion of a surrounding culture will inevitably color both the questions and the methods of its philosophers. This happened frequently, as we will see, from the beginning of Islam.

Early thinkers posed important questions that had to be addressed. Some questions were simply intriguing, but others presented serious philosophical problems. For example, the Qur’an calls God both just and merciful. Yet how is it possible to be strictly just and also to be truly merciful? Doesn’t one virtue exclude the other? Or a second question: If God is truly all-powerful, how can a human being really Page 426be free to make a choice? Doesn’t God make everything happen? And even when human beings think they are acting by their own choice, isn’t God really doing the choosing? Or another question: If God is all-loving, why does he allow bad things to happen? Wouldn’t an all-loving God prevent evil things from happening in the world? The list of many similar questions goes on almost without end.

Some philosophical questions arose early as a result of studying the Qur’an. Others, however, emerged as Islam encountered the philosophies and religions of its neighbors, such as when Greek philosophical works were first translated into Arabic and were then taught in the great schools of Baghdad, Córdoba, and Cairo. Aristotle, for example, taught that the universe was eternal. But didn’t this conflict with the Qur’an’s vision of God as creator of the universe? Further questions arose when Islam moved into India and had contact with monistic forms of Hindu spirituality. Certain schools of Hindu thought taught that everything, ultimately, is God. Doesn’t this notion conflict, though, with the Muslim notion that Allah, as creator, is different from his creation?

In general, there have been two philosophical poles within Islam. The more liberal view values reason and maintains that everything can be examined intellectually. It argues that human beings are basically free and that reason is a God-given gift that illuminates and complements faith. The other, more conservative view is suspicious of reason, which it sometimes sees as an expression of false human pride. It therefore values intellectual submission, believing that ultimately neither God nor anything else can be explained fully by reason. It tends to see the entire universe, including human lives, as being strongly determined by God. Like a pendulum, the history of Islamic thought has swung back and forth between these two poles.

The value that Islam has placed on philosophical reasoning appears in the works of two Muslim thinkers who are considered prominent figures of world philosophy. They are Ibn-Sina (980–1037) and Ibn-Rushd (1126–1198), known in medieval European philosophy by their Latin names Avicenna and Averroës, respectively. Because of their interest in medicine and the natural sciences, as well as philosophy, they thought that using reason to explore nature would give insight into nature’s Creator.

Perhaps the most influential philosophical formulations, however, were more conservative. They came from al-Ghazali (mentioned earlier) and his intellectual disciple al-Arabi (d. 1240). Both rejected rationalism. Defending the conservative approach, al-Ghazali wrote two influential books: The Incoherence of the Philosophers and The Revival of the Religious Sciences. In these books, he showed the inconsistency of several philosophers who had based their thought on the opinions of Aristotle. Al-Ghazali criticized philosophy for generating arguments and false pride, and he distanced himself from both rational theology and legalism. The elements that he considered to be the core of religion, instead, were direct religious experience and submission of the heart to God—ideals attainable by anyone, not just by philosophers.

Al-Arabi continued this line of thought; influenced also by Sufism, however, he moved even further in a mystical, monistic direction. For him, all apparently separate realities were images of God, and all activity was ultimately the activity of God. 35  Submission to God meant a lived awareness of God’s active presence in all things.

Islam and the Roles of Women

Recent decades have seen increased focus on the roles of women in Islam. There are different ways to view women’s roles in Islamic society. On one hand, traditional Islam protects women and emphasizes their important place in caring for home and family. On the other hand, women’s work has been largely restricted to domestic settings, thus keeping women from making use of all their many talents. We should begin by trying to understand Muhammad’s views, and then we can go on to examine the situation today.

Before the time of Muhammad, restrictions on females in Arabia were severe. Unwanted female babies were often buried alive or left to die. Women could be treated like property, being bought and sold, and men could take as many wives as they wished. Women often could not initiate divorce, and sometimes they had little right to own land or money. Seen against this background, some of Muhammad’s views can seem quite liberal. For example, the Qur’an forbids infanticide. It gives Page 434women the right to initiate divorce. Women may own money and property. Religious duties, too, are demanded of women and men alike. Thus, it has been argued that Muhammad did a great deal to improve women’s individual rights.

In large cities of the Muslim world, young women sometimes blend traditional dress with modern elements. The women here are shopping in Istanbul, Turkey.©Yoray Liberman/Getty Images

Today, however, what some see in Islam as protection of women, others see as repression. Women’s attire is a good example. In Muhammad’s day, women were required to dress modestly and in a way that protected them from any possible scrutiny from male visitors. But since that time, extreme forms of veiling have emerged in some countries, where women must be entirely covered when they are outside the home. In some places, even their hands are to be covered with gloves and their eyes with cloth mesh.

The meaning of the veil, however, is not always a conservative one. Although the wearing of a headscarf has long been imposed in some places, head covering is not required in all Muslim countries. In fact, despite the fact that some societies allow more lenient dress customs, women are actually adopting the veil. These places include Turkey, Egypt, and Malaysia. Women in these countries sometimes claim that covering one’s head with a veil or scarf can even be an assertion of female power and personality. In Western Europe, the wearing of the veil is strongly debated by legislators, who see the secular neutrality of the country being threatened.

Related to clothing requirements, in some cultures, women are not allowed to go outside their homes without a companion, and they may not travel abroad without male permission. Critics point out how limiting these and other restrictions can be for women. These restrictions can make it difficult for some women to go to school, meet their friends, participate in sports, or seek many kinds of employment.

Women are rebelling, however. Some examples are quite newsworthy. In Saudi Arabia, where women generally have not been allowed to drive cars, some women Page 435have begun to drive in public demonstrations, demanding changes in the law. Although women in the recent past have also been denied the right to vote in Saudi Arabia, this has begun to change.

Another potential area of reform is the mosque. Traditionally, women have been limited to praying either at home or, if in a mosque, only in a special area reserved for women. Men are the leaders of public prayer. These restrictive practices, though, are now being challenged. In several countries, women have joined men in the main prayer area of mosques, and a few women have even led public prayers of both men and women.

Some of the influences behind women’s questioning of some traditions in Islam are images and ideas presented via film, television, travel, international education, and the Internet. Most popular films and television programs, for example, are not produced in predominantly Muslim countries. Instead, they come from North America, Mexico, Brazil, Western Europe, South Korea, and China, and they depict cultures in which women drive, dress according to their own personal preference, exercise political power, and have much control over money and property. Women from some Muslim countries nowadays also go to Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand for study, and this influences their expectations when they return home.

In addition, tourism and employment opportunities bring non-Muslims—along with their non-Muslim practices and values—into traditionally Muslim societies. For example, the demand that women not drive in Saudi Arabia has fueled the need for personal drivers, many of whom are not Muslims. In fact, there are now more than seven million foreigners living in Saudi Arabia, many of them working as drivers or domestics. Dubai and Abu Dhabi also have attracted large populations of foreigners for business employment.

Although the Internet, entertainment industry, tourism, education, and migrant employment serve as challenges to traditional Muslim societies, they also provide sources for new ideas and a means of global communication. While some Muslim people seem to be following a traditional path, others appear to be considering ideas from other cultures. Both non-Muslims and Muslims will be affected by this intercultural exchange.