Download Sources of Islam - Dr. Jeffery B Cook Professor of History

Sources of Islam
Ashley Stephens
Honors 3210:
Islamic Holy War
North Greenville University
February 20, 2007
As of the 21st century, nearly one-fifth of the entire
world’s population holds to Islam as their saving faith.1
With such a vast following in the world today, it is
becoming increasingly important for one to be educated in
the history of this religion.
means submission.
The word “Islam” itself
Theoretically, this state of entire
submission will bring peace to those societies which have
submitted themselves as such.
Perhaps the best way to
begin to understand the intricacies of this complex
religion is to examine the sources from which the religion
takes its roots.
One of the two main sources of Islam, and perhaps the
most important, is the Quran.
This is the Muslim holy book
and is esteemed as highly as the Holy Bible in
Christianity.
The Quran is a collection of revelations
received by the Prophet Muhammad between AD 610 and AD 632.2
These revelations were received by Muhammad from the angel
Gabriel partly in the city of Mecca and party in Medina.3
Upon receiving his first revelations, Muhammad was quite
Michael Cook. The Koran: A Very Short Introduction (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2000), 7.
2 Matthew S. Gordon.
Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002),
6.
3 Cook, 5
1
skeptical.
After seeking council from his wife, he was
encouraged that this was indeed a word from God.4
The revelations were complete before Muhammad’s death
in AD 632, however he did not assemble the Quran into the
modern texts.
This work was done by caliphs and, according
to Muslim tradition, was completed around AD 650.5
was, in fact, illiterate.
Muhammad
For this reason, his revelations
were proclaimed orally and copied down by scribes under the
sound of his voice.6
This has led some questions of
accuracy.
Another important source of the Islamic faith is the
hadiths.
These are records of Muhammad’s life from his
thoughts, to his speech, to the way he conducted daily
business.7
These were compiled by companions of Muhammad
called “sahaba.”8
The hadith consist of two parts:
matn.
the isnad and the
The isnad contains the name of the sahaba and others
who heard the hadith as it was passed down the line.
The
matn is the actual report of things the prophet said or of
thing he did or did not do.9
Paul Lunde. Islam: Faith, Culture, History (New York:
Publishing, 2002), 18-19.
5 Cook, 6.
6 Lunde, 27.
7 Gordon, 7.
8 Lunde, 32.
9 Ibid, 33.
4
DK
The contributions of these two documents to the
Islamic faith are enumerable.
The opening statement of the
Quran, the Fatitha, contains most of the major ideas to
follow in the Koran.
It speaks of one all-powerful God who
will bless those in the straight path and who is wrathful
against those who have gone astray.10
One key theme in the
Quran is that of guidance by the messengers and prophets.
Sura 2:2 states, “This book, without a doubt, is a guide to
those in awe and fear [of God].”11
Another major contribution of the Quran to the Islamic
faith is in the area of relationship between Muslims and
God.
Three aspects of this relationship are tawhid,
nubuwwa, and maad.
Tawhid speaks of the unity of God and
leads Muslims to an attentive and pious life in fear of the
awesome justice and unity of God.
Nubuwwa deals with the
issue of “prophecy” and requires that faith include belief
in prophets and prophetic messages.
Maad, translated
“return” deals with the Muslim’s returning to the divine
source and receiving judgment on responses to prophetic
messages.12
Another major contribution of the Quran to the Islamic
faith is the five pillars of Islam.
10
11
12
Cook, 8.
Gordon, 6.
Ibid, 24.
The first of these is
Shahada or conversion.
To complete this step, one must
simply repeat the statement, “There is no God but Allah and
Muhammad is his prophet.”
Daily prayer, almsgiving, and
fasting during the sacred month of Ramadan are also parts
of the five pillars.
The ultimate is the Hajj, or the
pilgrimage to Mecca, made yearly by faithful followers of
the Islamic faith who are able to do so.13
According to Sura 16:89, the purpose of the Quran is
to “make everything clear;”14 however, many times the
meaning of certain phrases or passages may seem unclear or
ambiguous.
For this reason, there are religious scholars
called ulamas (“learned ones”) in place to interpret the
Quran.
The interpretations of these scholars results in
the Sharia which is the religious law of Islamic
societies.15
Perhaps the deepest break in interpretations of the
Quran is between the modern commentators and the
traditional interpreters.
The reason for this disparity is
the influx in the 19th and 20th centuries of more foreign
Western influences causing a shift in values in many
Islamic nations.16
The modern interpreters would like to
see the Islamic world modernize with the West, and they are
13
14
15
16
Ibid, 63-65.
Cook, 95.
Gordon, 7.
Cook, 29.
fought on every hand by the fundamentalists who wish to
preserve Islam in its purist form.
Another point of contention in the interpretation of
the Quran and hadiths is over the doctrine of abrogation.
Those who subscribe to this doctrine hold to the belief
that earlier verses in the Quran or hadiths may be
superseded by later revelations.
They take Sura 2:106
which states, “None of our revelations do we abrogate or
cause to be forgotten, but we substitute something better
or similar:
Knowest thou not that God hath power over all
things?” as the foundation for their argument.17
This has
caused much controversy among many Arab scholars.
From the viewpoint of fundamentalists Islamic
commentators, the modern interpretations of the Quran tend
to play one authority against another or one Scripture
against another until they get what they want.
They have a
tendency to manipulate the text in order to make it line up
with their own worldviews.
The increased Western influence
in Islamic nations has certainly pressured these modern
interpreters to find ways to align their sacred texts with
foreign democratic ideals.
“The Quran has abrogated the Bible—really?”
http://www.word.org.uk/the_quran.htm.
17
Retrieved from
Islam is certainly a driving force in today’s society.
It is a complex religion whose doctrines are held by nearly
one billion people.
It is imperative that our society more
fully understand the history of this religion as it moves
forward in a world so impacted by the Muslim faith.
Bibliography
Cook, Michael.
York:
The Koran:
A Very Short Introduction.
New
Oxford University Press, 2000
Gordon, Matthew S.
Islam.
New York:
Oxford University
Press, 2002
Lunde, Paul.
Islam:
Faith, Culture, History.
New York:
DK Publishing, 2002.
“The Quran has abrogated the Bible-really?”
http://www.word.org.uk/the_quran.htm.
Retrieved from