ISLAM
by Dr. Ghulam Haider Aasi
Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and the History of
Religions, American Islamic College, Chicago; Trustee of the
Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions
Islam is the proper name of religion which Allah, the Alone God,
revealed to mankind through the series of human messengers-
prophets in human history and completed in His final revelation
of "Al-Quran al-Karim, Kalam-Allah" (the speech of God) sent down
upon the Prophet Muhammad (570-632 CE) "Salla-Allahu alayhi wa
Sallam" ("may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him"; this
blessing on the names of honored prophets is sometimes
abbreviated in print to SAAWS or SA). Within history, Islam is
embodied in the Qur'an and in the "Sunnah" (the sayings,
actions and approvals of the Prophet Muhammad) in its final and
eternal form.
The term "Islam" derives from the root letters "s.l.m." ("Ar.
Sin, Lam, Mim") which means "to be in peace," "to be secure" and
"to be integral, whole." Hence, Islam means one's conscious
submission to the Will, Law, and Guidance of Allah, the Almighty
Alone God and thus to be in peace with one's own self, with all
creatures and with the Creator and Originator of all that exists.
One who consciously surrenders one's whole being to God and
commits oneself to pattern one's life on the divine guidance
communicated and exemplified by the human messengers-prophets
sent by God is called a "Muslim." The Qur'an describes Islam in
two ways: 1) as the primordial or natural religion (religio
naturalis) of the innate nature with which Allah created mankind
(Q.30:30), and 2) as the religion which was completed and
consummated in the Qur'an, the final and definitive Divine Writ
from Allah.
Allah, the Exalted Almighty Alone God, declares in the Qur'an
that all the universe and creation surrenders to Him either
willingly or unwillingly and that all must return to him
(Q.3:83). Whereas the universe surrenders to God's law by its
innate nature and is endowed with order, humankind obeys the
guidance of God through its divinely endowed moral choice and
free will.
"Glorify the name of your Sustainer, the All-Highest,
Who creates all that exists, then forms it in its best mold,
determines its nature with the proper measure and guides it
towards its fulfillment." (Q.87:1-3; tr.by M. Asad)
Allah created humanity, endowed them with an innate awareness of
Him, empowered them with faculties of reason and cognition, and
made them to inherit the earth, testing their free choice of good
and evil by their obedience to or denial of Allah's universal
guidance. Qur'an unequivocally declares the unity, uniqueness
and universality of Allah, the unity and equality of all mankind,
the universality of His guidance to all mankind through the human
messengers-prophets, and the unity and indivisibility of the
Truth. Allah created Adam, the first human being, made him and
his progeny inheritors of the earth ("Khalifat-Allah fi al.Ard")
and endowed them with the requisite faculties to be His trustees
on earth. His messengers-prophets, starting with Adam and
culminating in the Prophet Muhammad (SAAWS), conveyed and
exemplified His guidance to their communities.
Historical Establishment
Muslims believe in the historical crystalization and
establishment of Islam within the religious experience of the
Prophet Muhammad (SAAWS). He actualized the Will of God as
embodied in the Qur'an by his beautiful model, the Sunnah, and
raised a society of true Muslims. His Companions, rightly guided
Caliphs and Imams, carried out his tradition, transmitted it
to the following generations and established it in history.
The Prophet Muhammad (SAAWS) was born at Makkah (Mecca) in what
is now Saudi Arabia in 570 CE. From a very young age he came to
be known as Al-Amin, the honest and trustworthy. At the age of 25
he married a righteous widow, Khadijah, who was 15 years his
senior. When he was in his 40s, he was called upon by Allah to
deliver His final guidance and message, the Qur'an, to
mankind and to bring about the "Ummah Muslimah," the community of
submitters to Allah. The Prophet Muhammad received the first
revelation sent down upon him through the agency of angel Jibrail
(Gabriel) while he was meditating in the cave of Hira'. It reads
in translation as follows:
"Read in the name of thy Sustainer, who has created. Created
man out of a germ cell. Read, for thy Sustainer is the
Most-Bountiful One. Who has taught man the use of the pen. Taught
man what he did not know. Nay, verily, man becomes grossly
overweening whenever he believes himself to be self-sufficient:
for, behold, unto thy Sustainer all must return." (Q96:1-8; tr.by
M. Asad)
In Makkah, the Prophet Muhammad called upon the Arab idolaters of
his time to believe in One Alone God, Allah ("Tawhid"), and not
to ascribe divinity to aught beside Allah. As a result of the
scathing criticism of the Qur'an against idolatry and its
various forms of Associationism (shirk) the Makkan oligarchy
turned to persecuting Muhammad and his followers. It became so
harsh and harrying that the Prophet was commanded to migrate
along with his Makkan followers to Yathrib.
This emigration of the Prophet Muhammad and his Makkan Muslims
who since then were designated "Muhajirun" (migrants in the Cause
of Allah) in 622 CE marked a watershed point in the history of
mankind. The Muslims' religious calendar, known as "Hijri", is
based on this most meaningful and significant event. The city of
Yathrib since then came to be known as Madinah (abbreviated from
Madinat al-Nabi, city of the Prophet) and it was here that the
Prophet was able to establish "Ummah Muslimah," the religio-moral
and socio-political community of Muslims, commonly known as the
Islamic city state of Madinah.
Within a decade this nascent and model Muslim community was
successful in establishing Islam in the whole of the Arabian
Peninsula; in addition, the Prophet sent missions to all the
surrounding rulers and empires including both the superpowers of
the time, the Persian Sasanid and the Byzantian Roman Christian
empires. Just months before his death, the Prophet Muhammad
addressed all mankind during his Farewell Pilgrimage to Ka'bah,
in Makkah and made the eternal message of Allah universally known
and established. Some of the salient parts of this historic
address are the following:
"O, mankind, listen to what I say: I do not know whether I
will meet you ever at this place after this year. O, mankind,
verily your lives, your honor and your property are inviolable
and sacred like this day and this month until you meet your
Sustainer. You will definitely meet your Sustainer and He will
ask you of your deeds.... Whoever is entrusted with any
trust, he must return the trust fully. Verily, all usury is
abolished but you have your capital. Wrong not and you shall not
be wronged. Allah has decreed that there is to be no usury....
You have rights over your women and they have rights over you....
Listen and understand, O, mankind, I am leaving with you the
Divine writ, the Qur'an and the Sunnah of His Prophet.
If you stick to it you will never go astray. This is a
self-evident fact. You must know every Muslim is a brother to
another Muslim. All Muslims constitute one brotherhood. One is
only permitted to take from a brother what he gives willingly, so
wrong not yourselves. O, Allah, be witness I have conveyed."
(Ibn Hisham, "Sirat al-Rasul")
After the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 10H/632 CE, the
Ummah was first led by the four rightly-guided Caliphs
(10-40H/632-661CE), followed by the dynastic rulers. Both the
historical spread of Islam and unprecedented expansion of Muslim
rule through all the continents known at the time, within less
than a century after the death of the Prophet, changed not only
the map of the world but also transformed the destiny of human
history and world civilization. By 711 CE, Islam had crossed
Gibraltar in the west, Caucasus in the north, Sudan in the south,
and reached India and China in the east. Muslim "Caliphantes"
ruled most of the world, from Al-Andalus, Spain (711-1492 CE)
to Asia and Africa, at the period when Europe and the West were
still in their dark and Middle ages. Islam made lasting
contributions to human civilization and transformed ancient
regional civilizations into a world civilization. The so-called
Western civilization would never have emerged had there not been
the integrating Islamic civilization across the European Dark and
Middle ages and the Renaissance.
This "pax Islamica", however, was never immune from internal
disintegration or from external repulsions and reconquests. The
Christian reconquest of Spain, the Inquisition and the Crusades
set a course of historical conflict between the West and the
Muslim world of which European Colonialism and Western
Neo-imperialism have been the historical corollaries. Despite all
these geo-political changes and socio-economic conflicts, Islam
continued to spread, gaining adherents in all parts of the world.
Today, Muslims total over a billion and their geographical spread
is throughout all the continents. The historic spread of Islam
has never been due to its early conquests alone; rather, its
appeals are the egalitarian bonding of all believers into
universal brotherhood (Ummah) and providing them with the
spiritual truth of God-consciousness (Tawhid and Taqwa) that
transforms their lives to be meaningful and purposeful.
Main Sources
For Muslims the essential sources for all aspects of life are:
(a) the Qur'an, (b) the Sunnah and Hadith, (c) "Ijma"
(traditional consensus of the Companions of the Prophet and
teachings of the "Imams" for the Shi'ah), and (d) "Ijtihad"
(reasoning and analogical deduction based on the Qur'an and
"Hadith" to derive solutions for new problems).
The Qur'an. Muslims believe in the Qur'an as
verbatim revelation from Allah, sent down upon Muhammad through
the agency of the angel Gabriel during Muhammad's prophethood,
610-632 CE. The whole Qur'an was sent down upon the Prophet
piecemeal, was memorized, written and publicly transmitted upon
its revelation. Its uniqueness as an inimitable miracle and the
eternally definitive words of God, its historical preservation,
regular and authentic transmission and dissemination are
essential beliefs of Islam. It comprises 114 "surahs" (chapters)
which are designated as Makkan or Madinan according to the place
of their descent upon Muhammad.
Sunnah and Hadith. The second universal source of Islam
is the Sunnah, which comprises sayings, actions and approvals of
the Prophet Muhammad. Their reportage in narration is called
Hadith. Six collections are recognized as authentic by the
Sunni Muslims; the Shi'ah recognize Al-Kulini's collection,
entitled "Al-Kafi," as earliest and authentic.
Ijma. Sunni Muslims believe in the consensus of the
Muslim scholars and the community as the third source of Islamic
law whereas the Shi'ah take the teachings and interpretations of
the Imams as binding.
Ijtihad. This names the total effort of a religious
scholar to discover both the intent of the Islamic law and the
correct answer to a new problem in light of the first two
material sources called "Nass" (divine text), through a
well-defined systematic procedure of "Qiyas" (analogical
deduction).
Beliefs and Observances
A. Articles of Faith (Arkan al Iman)
Muslims believe in six articles of faith which are derived from
revealed sources, the Qur'an and the Sunnah. (Q.2:285; 4:136,
150-152)
Belief in "One Alone God, Allah". He is Unique,
Infinite, Transcendent, Creator and Sustainer of all that exists.
"Nothing is like unto Him." (Q.42:11) He Alone is worthy of
worship. All else is His creature and servant. He is Unique both
in his essence ("Dhat") and in His attributes ("Sifat"). "His
are the beautiful names (99 beautiful names described in the
Qur'an ) and all that is in the heavens and the earth glorify
Him ...." (Q.59:24; 7:180; 17:110; 20:8)
Belief in the eternal life of Hereafter"
("Al-Akhirah"). Muslims believe in the end of the world, in
Resurrection, in the resurrection of whole person after death
("al-Ba'th"), in the Day of judgment ("Yawm al-Hisab") and in
eternal Hell and Paradise.
Belief in angels. Muslims believe in angels as
creatures of Allah, eternally busy in His service, glorification
and Praise: "... they never disobey God what he commanded them to
do and do what they are ordered." (Q.66:6; 16:50)
Belief in Revelations from God, commonly known as
belief in the Books from God. Muslims believe that Allah revealed
His messages and guidance to different messengers at different
times and places. These include the scrolls of Abraham, the
Torah to Moses, Psalms to David, "Injil" to Jesus, culminating
in the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad.
Belief in human messengers-prophets of God. Muslims
believe that Allah chose certain human beings as His prophets and
messengers to convey His guidance and to exemplify it for their
people. All peoples have a prophet from among themselves who
conveyed the guidance and norms of God to them in their own
language. Muslims believe that the series of prophets starts with
Adam and includes Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus, and culminates in
Muhammad, who is the Seal of the office of Prophethood. The
office of Prophethood is indivisible. May God's blessing and
peace be with all of them. (Q.10:47,14:4, 16:36, 21:25, 28:59,
33:40)
Belief in the Decree and Plan of God. Muslims believe
that all happens, good or evil, with the decree of God and
nothing can fail His Plan. ("Qada wa Qadar").
B. Pillars of Islam ("Arkan al Islam")
Shahadah: The statement of faith. A person becomes a
Muslim when out of one's own will and conviction one bears
witness to the fact that there is no deity but Allah and Muhammad
is His messenger (and final prophet and servant).
Salat: Every male and female adult Muslim is obliged to
offer five daily worship-prayers. (Q.4:103, 2:177)
Sawm: Fasting during the month of "Ramadan," the
ninth month of Muslims' lunar calendar and abstaining from food,
drink, sex and all sorts of idle and immoral acts from dawn to
sunset. (Q.2:183-187)
Zakat: Sharing wealth. Every Muslim who has his savings
for a year is obligated to pay a fixed portion of it to the
needy, the poor and those who are under debt. Wealth-sharing
purifies the giver's wealth from greed and stinginess and
reconciles the hearts of the recipients. (Q.9:60)
Hajj: Pilgrimage. All Muslims who can afford the journey
to Ka'bah, in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, both physically and
financially, are obliged to perform the pilgrimage once in their
lifetime; it is usually made during the first ten days of the
last month of the Muslim "Hijri" Calendar, "Dhu-al. Hijjah."
Pilgrimage at other times is called "Umrah." (Q.2:189-179, 3:97)
Theological Schools
At its earliest stage Muslim theological speculation emerged in
response to internal political differences. The murder of Uthman
(d.656 CE), the third Caliph, and subsequent civil wars raised
important issues, including: Who is a true believer? what is the
nature of faith (Iman) and its relation to Islam (submission
to God's law)? what qualifies a person both to be the leader and
member of a truly believing Community? Variant responses to these
questions split the Ummah first into different political views
and groups, then resulted in sects:
Khawarij
The first explicit political and theological schism was of the
Khawarij (Secessionists) who called for extreme piety and
idealistic egalitarianism. They fought against all claimants of
political rule. Some even rejected the need for any governing
institution. Their pursuit of a pure society later led them to
fanaticism and violence. Continuous rebellion against every
government and ever-increasing internal dissension and disunity
almost eliminated their role and existence. Those who survived
took refuge in the rugged mountains of North Africa and Yemen.
Shi'ah
The second major schism represented, in its earliest phase,
primarily a socio-political critique against the rulers; later it
became a permanent sect or branch of Islam. The name "Shi'ah" was
given to the partisans of 'Ali (d.661 CE), the son-in-law of the
Prophet, the fourth rightly-guided "Caliph" of the Sunnis and
the first "Imam" of the Shi'ah. They developed the doctrine of
"Imamah" over and against the Sunni Khilafah. According to this
view, the legitimate successor of the Prophet was 'Ali, their
first Imam, whose succession then continued in his descendants
who are thus political and religious leaders. These "Imams" are
divinely inspired, infallible, and authoritative interpreters of
the *Qur'an*. Later, debating the legitimacy of different Imams,
Shi'ism split into numerous sects. Their main branches are:
a. Ithna 'Ash'ariyyah (Twelvers) believe in the 12 Imams
and hold that a son, Muhammad al-Muntazar, was born to the 11th
Imam, Hassan al-Askari (d.874) but went into concealment until
he will reappear at the proper time to set the whole world in
order. They subscribe to the legal school "Ja'fariyyah," have
been established in Iran since the "Safvid" period (1501), and
are the largest branch of Shi'ah.
b. Zaydiyah consider Zayd b. Ali (d.740), the second
grandson of Husayn, to be the fifth and final Imam. Zaydiyah
follow the Zaydi school of Islamic law and are closer to Sunnis.
They established themselves in Yemen.
c. Isma'iliyah take Ismail's (d.760) son Muhammad as the
impending "Mahdi". They split into many offshoots such as
Fatimids, Qaramitah, Druz, Nizaris and Agha Khanis, continuing to
present times.
Sunnis
The majority of Muslims -- more than 90 percent of all Muslims
in the world -- identify themselves with the term "Ahl-al-Sunnah
wa al-Jama'ah," or People of the Tradition and the Community,
commonly known as Sunni in distinction to non-orthodox sects and
groups. Among them, two main theological schools and dispositions
became permanent. In their classical terms, these are known as
"Mu'tazilah" and "Ash'ariyah". The first tendency represents
rationalist philosophical theology while the second emphasizes
the absolute primacy and total sufficiency of the revealed texts,
the Qur'an and the Sunnah.
Feasts and Festivals
Muslims observe a lunar calendar of 354 days. The two most
important religious feasts celebrated by all, everywhere, are the
two "Ids":
Id al-Adha, the feast of Sacrifice and Hajj,
is celebrated on the tenth of "Dhu al-Hijjah," the 12th month.
Congregational worship prayer is offered in the open or in big
mosques. Every household slaughters an animal, and meat of
sacrifices is shared and distributed.
Id al-Fitr is celebrated on the first day of "Shawwal",
the tenth month, to give thanks for completion of the fasting of
"Ramadan" and asking God's forgiveness. "Id-Salat" is offered in
congregation in the open or in mosques. On both "Ids",
charity is given, gifts are exchanged, open houses are
maintained, visits are made to friends, neighbors, relatives and
even to graveyards. Generosity, hospitality and caring are
hallmarks of these feasts.
In addition to the two "'Ids" there are other optional
small holidays or historical celebrations such as fasting on the
tenth of the first month, vigil on "Laylat al-Qadr," popularly on
the 27th night of the fasting month of "Ramadan," celebrating the
birthday of the Prophet (Mawlid al-Nabi) on 12th of the third
month and on first "Muharram", as the "Hijri" new year day, etc.
Shi'ah particularly commemorate the martyrdom of Husain (d.680),
the grandson of the Prophet, during the first ten days of
"Muharram."
SUFISM
One of the most enduring contributions of Islam to human
spirituality is its mystical tradition and dimension, generally
known as Sufism, more correctly called "Tasawwuf." It is
unfortunate that, more often than not, Islam has been perceived
as a political, legalistic, orthopraxic and this-worldly religion
due to its distinctive emphasis on the Transcendence and complete
otherness of Unique and Alone God. The historical fact, however,
is that it is the Islamic spiritual reality rather than Muslim
imperium or an Islamic state which made Islam a universal
religion. This stream of spiritual experience has been carried on
by Sufis who have been the mystics and scholars of traditional
Islam up to the present. Sufism sees the essence of the human in
his being "of God, in the world" rather than "of the world, for
God." It sees humans innately bound with God due to the
primordial covenant of their souls witnessing to the fact of
God's lordship. (Q.7:172)
It is human forgetfulness of God and absorption in the material
world that makes them alienated from their essence. (Q.59:18-19)
Hence, to gain one's real self is to be in constant remembrance
of God ("Dhikr" ; Q.13:28) and to detach oneself from the
transitory material world. True submission (Islam) is to make
one's heart, not just head, the real throne of God where God
manifests Himself both as Transcendent and Immanent. Realizing
such presence of God requires one to experience the absolute love
of God, by dying in Him and living in Him. Out of their religious
experiences, Sufis derived the doctrines of "Fana" (dying in God
or annihilation of the human self and attributes in God) and
"Baqa" (living with God and acquiring divine attributes). They
systematically developed and explained the different stations and
states through which every genuine mystic has to tread on the
path of spiritual experience of reality. While the primary
requirement for a Muslim is to abide by the rules and regulation
of the Islamic law and rituals ("Shari'ah"), that observance
does not guarantee the spiritual experience of God and His
vision.
By devoting and pledging oneself to God through the experienced
guide, one can tread the path of spiritual reality ("Tariqah").
Within the variety of these religious-spiritual experiences, the
mystics of Islam introduced their orders and provided
institutions where adepts lead initiates to the experience of
spiritual reality.
Cooperation, Peace, Justice and Virtue
The main objective of every venture of interreligious dialogue
and cooperation is to bring about justice, order and peace in the
world. Cooperation in furthering virtue and justice and in ending
evil and aggression is among the most distinctive imperatives of
the Qur'an. (Q.5:2 & 8)
Islam and the Parliaments of the World's Religions
At the 1893 Parliament, Islam was not represented properly.
Alexander Russell Webb, a singular American new Muslim, made a
genuine effort to bring across the true teachings of Islam to the
West, but to no avail. Since its historical inception to the
present, Islam has been grossly misunderstood and distorted in
the West. Most of the papers on Islam were read and written by
Christian missionaries active in the Muslim world at the time.
They not only explained away Islam, but also reasserted more
stereotypes, a legacy which continues to the present. Whereas for
centuries distortion of Islam and stereotypes of it were created
and carried out by the missionaries and mercenary Orientalists,
today this distortion continues by the Western media and by those
who are antagonistic to Islam.
Muslims hope and pray that interfaith meetings such as the 1993
Parliament of the World's Religions at Chicago will lay the
foundations of proper understanding of Islam in the West and
America, and that the Western world will see in Islam the panacea
rather than the threat to the needed just world order.
