| Physical description |
xiii, 420 pages ; 25 cm |
| Notes |
"Selections ... almost all of them originally in Arabic"--Pref. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 413-415) and index. |
| Contents |
Introduction: A Primer on Islam 3 -- Chapter I Past, Sacred and Profane -- 1. Quran on Creation 8 -- 2. Adam and the Angels 10 -- 3. Primordial Ka'ba II -- 4. Covenant with Abraham 13 -- 5. Abraham and Ishmael in the Holy Land 16 -- 6. Abraham the Builder 17 -- 7. Beginning of the Pilgimage Ritual 20 -- 8. Prophet Moses 22 -- 9. Wisdom of Solomon 24 -- 10. Muslims' Jesus 27 -- 11. A Muslim Account of Pentecost 34 -- 12. Mecca in the Era of Ignorance 35 -- 13. Religion of Mecca 37 -- 14. Pre-Islamic Monotheism 39 -- 15. Hanifs 40 -- Chapter 2 Life and Work of the Prophet -- 1. Muhammad's Descent from Adam 44 -- 2. Birth of the Prophet 44 -- 3. Scriptural Prediction of the Coming of the Prophet of Islam 46 -- 4. Marriage with Khadija 49 -- 5. Muhammad's Call and First Revelation so -- 6. Sadness, Doubt, Consolation 53 -- 7. Conversion of Ali 54 -- 8. Earliest Public Preaching of Islam SS -- 9. Opposition of the Quraysh 59 -- 10. Persecution and Migration to Abyssinia 61 -- 11. Boycott 63 -- 12. Muhammad's Night Journey 64 -- 13. Losses, Personal and Political 67 -- 14. An Invitation from Yathrib 68 -- 15. A Turn to Armed Resistance 70 -- 16. Hijra or Migration to Medina (622 C.E.) 71 -- 17. Constitution of Medina 74 -- 18. Jewish Opposition 75 -- 19. Fighting in the Sacred Month 76 -- 20. Battle at the Badr Wells 77 -- 21. Fate of the Banu Qaynuqa' 78 -- 22. From Badr to the Battle of the Trench 79 -- 23. Banu Qurayza 83 -- 24. Arrangement at Hudaybiyya 85 -- 25. Pilgrimage Fulfilled 88 -- 26. "The Truth Has Come and Falsehood Has Passed Away" 89 -- 27. Consolidation of Gains 90 -- 28. Submission of the Idolators 91 -- 29. A Primer on Islam 92 -- 30. Farewell Pilgrimage 94 -- 31. Muhammad's Illness and Death (June 632 C.E.) 95 -- 32. Beginning of the Muslim Era 97 -- Chapter 3 Community of Muslims -- 1. Peoples of the Book 99 -- 2. Errors of the Jews 100 -- 3. Jews Warned by Their Own Prophets 102 -- 4. Error of the Christians 103 -- 5. Muslim Community 104 -- 6. An Arabic Quran 106 -- 7. "Catholic" Islam: Staying Close to the Tradition 109 -- 8. A shi'ite View of the Community 112 -- 9. Wrong Belief and Unbelief 113 -- 10. Caliphate 117 -- 11. Caliph and Imam 120 -- 12. Ruler, Chosen by the People or Designated by God? 122 -- 13. Ali, the First Imam 124 -- 14. Pool of Khum 127 -- 15. Martyrdom of Husayn 128 -- 16. "People of the House" 131 -- 17. Shi'ite Succession 133 -- 18. Awaiting the Hidden Imam 135 -- 19. "Twelvers" and "Seveners" among the Shi'ites 140 -- 20. A juridical Portrait of the Sunni Caliph 142 -- 21. Powers of the Caliph-Imam 144 -- 22. Delegation of the Royal Power: The Sultanate 147 -- 23. Religious Powers of the Caliph 148 -- 24. Five Pillars of Islam ISO -- 25. Moral Islam 152 -- 26. Alms and Charity 153 -- 27. Sixth Pillar: War in the Path of God 154 -- 28. "There Is No Compulsion in Religion" 156 -- Chapter 4 Word of God and Its Understanding -- 1. A Muslim History of Prophecy 158 -- 2. Did the Jews and Christians Tamper with Scripture? 161 -- 3. Divine Origin of the Quran 165 -- 4. Muhammad's Ascension into Heaven 168 -- 5. Night of Destiny 16q -- 6. Heavenly Book 170 -- 7. Quran: Created or Uncreated? 172 -- 8. "Bring a Sura Like It" 173 -- 9. Earliest Sura 175 -- 10. Heart of the Quran: The "Throne Verse" 176 -- 11. "Satanic Verses" 177 -- 12. Revelation and Its Copy 178 -- 13. Uthman's Recension of the Quran 179 -- 14. Who Put Together the Suras? 181 -- 15. Seven "Readings" of the Quran 181 -- 16. Textual Corruptions? The Shi'ite View 183 -- 17. Proofs of Prophecy 18S -- 18. Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets 18S -- 19. Muhammad among the Prophets 187 -- 20. Avicenna on the Prophethood of Muhammad 189 -- 21. Clear and the Ambiguous in the Quran 191 -- 22. How the Muslim Should Read the Quran 194 -- 23. Quranic Exegesis 19S -- 24. Where Did the Muslim Commentators Get Their Information? 197 -- 25. Outer and Inner Meanings of the Quran 198 -- 26. Ghazali on the Sciences of Revelation 201 -- 27. Allegorical Interpretation as a Resolution of Apparent Contradictions 203 -- 28. Dull Masses and Minds Tied Down to Sensibles 205 -- 29. Pleasures of Paradise 207 -- Chapter 5 Quran, the Prophet, and the Law -- 1. On the Usefulness of Tradition 213 -- 2. Scripture, Tradition, and the Law in Islam 214 -- 3. Word of God Is One: The Inspiration of the Prophetic Traditions 220 -- 4. Their Transmission 220 -- 5. Tendentious and Sectarian Traditions 221 -- 6. Criticism of Traditions 222 -- 7. Categories of Traditions 224 -- 8. Companions of the Prophet 224 -- 9. Contradictory Traditions 22S -- 10. Canonical Collections 226 -- 11. Derivation of God's Commands 227 -- 12. On Consensus 229 -- 13. Personal Initiative in the Law 231 -- 14. Legal Knowledge and Legal Obligations 236 -- 15. Collective Obligation 237 -- 16. Evolution of Islamic jurisprudence 239 -- 17. Classical Schools 240 -- 18. End of the Age of the Fathers 242 -- 19. Abrogation in Islamic Law 243 -- 20. Case of the Woman Taken in Adultery 246 -- 21. Crimes and Their Penalties in the Quran 248 -- 22. Divorce in Islamic Law 249 -- 23. Controversial Questions 251 -- 24. "0 Believers, Fasting Is Enjoined on You" 252 -- Chapter 6 Worship of God -- 1. How Paganism and Idol Worship Came to Mecca 258 -- 2. Islam and the Graven Image 260 -- 3. Muslims' Prayer 263 -- 4. Prophetic Traditions on Prayer 26S -- 5. Direction of Prayer 268 -- 6. Prophet Builds His Mosque 270 -- 7. Institution of the Call to Prayer 271 -- 8. On the Manner and Intent of Prayer 272 -- 9. Friday Service 274 -- 10. Two Liturgical Festival Days 276 -- 11. A Muslim Holy Day: The Tenth of Muharram 277 -- 12. Pilgrimage of Islam 279 -- 13. Muhammad's Farewell Pilgrimage 280 -- 14. Islamicizing the Hajj 28S -- 15. Twelfth-Century Haram 289 -- 16. Ghazali on the Proper Performance of the Hajj 294 -- 17. Prophet's Mosque and Tomb at Medina 298 -- 18. A Visit to Medina 302 -- Chapter 7 Saints and Mystics -- 1. This World and the Next: The Islamic Preaching 307 -- 2. Historical Origins of the Sufi Movement 310 -- 3. Conversions and Affirmations 312 -- 4. Two Sufi Autobiographies: Ibn Abi al-Khayr and al-Ghazali 315 -- 5. "No Monasticism in Islam" 321 -- 6. Monks and Sufis 322 -- 7. Sufi. Communities 32S -- 8. Convent Life in Islam 328 -- 9. Lamp in the Niche 330 -- 10. What Is the Mystic Way? 332 -- 11. Junayd on Oneness of and with God 33S -- 12. Self-Obliteration 337 -- 13. Oneness with God Is Not Identity with God 338 -- 14. Life and Death of a Mystic: Al-Hallaj 339 -- 15. "I Am the Truth" 341 -- 16. Ecstatic Utterances 342 -- 17. Face in the Mirror 343 -- 18. Al-Jili and the Perfect Man 349 -- 19. Ibn Khaldun: An Evaluation of the Sufi. Tradition 351 -- 20. Sufis and shi'ites 353 -- Chapter 8 Islamic Theology -- 1. Origins of Theology in Islam 358 -- 2. Intrusion of Philosophy into Dialectical Theology 361 -- 3. Limited Role of Dialectical Theology 363 -- 4. Fundamentalist Position: "Without Howing" versus Dialectical Theology 365 -- 5. Ash'ari on the Charge of Heretical Innovation 367 -- 6. Rationalist Theology 368 -- 7. Farabi on God's Providence 369 -- 8. Ghazali on Theology and Muslim Belief 370 -- 9. Truth of Philosophy 371 -- 10. Rationalist Ethics and Revealed Morality 372 -- 11. Ibn Rushd: The Law Commands the Study of Philosophy 374 -- 12. Mystic's Gnosis and the Theologian's Science 377 -- 13. Illumination of the Intellect 382 -- 14. Life after Death 388 -- 15. Second Coming: The Muslim Tradition 389 -- 16. "A Man from My Family" 391 -- 17. Preaching of God's Final Judgment 392 -- 18. End Defined 401 -- 19. Torments of the Grave 403 -- 20. Incoherence of the Philosophers on the Afterlife 405 -- 21. An End to Hell? 409 -- 22. Vision of God 411. |
| Summary |
To enable the reader to shape, or perhaps reshape, an understanding of the Islamic tradition, F.E. Peters skillfully combines extensive passages from Islamic texts with a fascinating commentary of his own. In so doing, he presents a substantial body of literary evidence that will enable the reader to grasp the bases of Muslim faith and, more, to get some sense of the breadth and depth of Islamic religious culture as a whole. The voices recorded here are those of Muslims engaged in discourse with their God and with each other--historians, lawyers, mystics, and theologians, from the earliest Companions of the Prophet Muhammad down to Ibn Rushd or "Averroes" (d. 1198), al-Nawawi (d. 1278), and Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406). These religious seekers lived in what has been called the "classical" period in the development of Islam, the era when the exemplary works of law and spirituality were written, texts of such universally acknowledged importance that subsequent generations of Muslims gratefully understood themselves as heirs to an enormously broad and rich legacy of meditation on God's Word. |
|
"Islam" is a word that seems simple to understand. It means "submission," and, more specifically in the context where it first and most familiarly appears, "submission to the will of God." That context is the Quran, the Sacred Book of the Muslims, from which flow the patterns of belief and practice that today claim the spiritual allegiance of hundreds of millions around the globe. By drawing on the works of the great masters--Islam in its own words--Peters enriches our understanding of the community of "those who have submitted" and their imposing religious and political culture, which is becoming ever more important to the West. |
| Other author |
Peters, F. E. (Francis E.)
|
| Subject |
Islam.
|
| ISBN |
0691033943 (acid-free) |
|
0691000409 (paperback: acid-free) |
|
