An Introduction to Islam

by Denny, Frederick M.

• ISBN13: 9780023285196
• ISBN10: 0023285192
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-01-01
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Summary

Frederick M. Denny's extensive fieldwork, experience, and scholarship, combined with his engaging writing style and passion for the subject, sets An Introduction to Islam, Third Edition apart. This text provides students with a thorough and unified topical introduction to the global religious community of Islam. It places Islam within a cultural, historical, political, social, and religious context and examines its connections with Jewish and Christian teachings and practices. The text's integration of the doctrinal and devotional elements of Islam enables students to see how Muslims think and live engendering understanding and breaking down stereotypes. An Introduction to Islam also reviews pre-Islamic Near Eastern religious history so students can see how Islam developed within an extended family of similar traditions. The third edition has a brand new chapter, "Whither Islam and the Muslims? Progressive Muslims with a Vision of an 'Islam without Borders'." This chapter focuses on Islam and Muslims in the post-9/11 world. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Part One Religion and Common Life in the Pre-Islamic Near East
Early Civilizations: Egypt and Mesopotamia	3	(13)
Egypt the Land	3	(4)
Mesopotamia the Land	7	(4)
Religious Rites	11	(1)
Religion and Life in the Ancient Near East	12	(4)
The Jews: Covenant and Community with a God of History	16	(14)
The Origins of Judaism	16	(1)
Abraham	17	(3)
Moses	20	(1)
Later Religious Development	21	(3)
The Prophets	24	(3)
The Maturing Judaism	27	(3)
Christianity: Salvation As a Universal Mission	30	(13)
Common Themes in Ancient Near Eastern Religions	30	(2)
Awaiting God's Messiah	32	(1)
Jesus of Nazareth	33	(2)
Paul	35	(1)
Christianity	36	(2)
Christianity and Judaism	38	(5)
Pre-Islamic Arabia: Beliefs, Values, Way of Life	43	(16)
Pre-Islamic Arabia	43	(2)
Social Structure and Economy	45	(5)
Poetry	50	(2)
Pre-Islamic Religion	52	(7)
Part Two The Coming of Islam: The Prophet, His People, and God's Religion
Muhammad and the Early Muslim Community	59	(24)
Before Muhammad	59	(1)
Muhammad the Person	60	(3)
Muhammad the Prophet	63	(1)
The Qur'an	64	(2)
The First Muslims	66	(1)
The Development of Islam	67	(3)
The Qur'an's Divine Message	70	(2)
The Hijra	72	(6)
Muhammad's Later Life	78	(2)
Muhammad's Personal Life	80	(3)
The Arab Conquests and Islamic Rule: The Struggle for a Unified Umma	83	(24)
Muhammad's Heirs	83	(1)
The Muslims' Foreign Conquests	84	(2)
Early Muslim Governments and the Spread of the Umma	86	(6)
Two Approaches to Politics and Rule	92	(1)
The Spread of the Islamic Empire	93	(3)
The Abbasids	96	(3)
Other Muslim Peoples	99	(4)
Islam's Achievements	103	(4)
Part Three The Islamic Religious System
The Basic Beliefs and Worship Practices of Islam	107	(31)
The Five Doctrines of Islamic Faith	107	(6)
The Five Acts of Worship	113	(1)
Purification	113	(2)
Ritual Impurity	115	(3)
The Pillars of Islam	118	(20)
The Nature and Function of the Qur'an	138	(20)
Language, Format, and Chronology	138	(4)
Recitation and Ritual Observances	142	(6)
Contents and Nature of the Qur'an	148	(2)
Interpretation of the Qur'an	150	(5)
The ``Inimitability'' of the Qur'an	155	(3)
The Prophet's Sunna as Preserved in the Hadith	158	(14)
Muhammad and Scripture	158	(2)
The Form of the Hadith	160	(4)
Major Collections of Hadith	164	(3)
The Prophet's and His Companions' Sunnas	167	(1)
Muhammad As an Ideal Human	168	(4)
Muslim Creeds and Theologies: Their Purposes and Varieties	172	(23)
Theology	172	(2)
Islamic Theology	174	(1)
Theological Issues	175	(3)
The Place of Reason	178	(1)
The Mu'tazilite Rationalists	179	(2)
Mu'tazilite Thought	181	(6)
Three Muslim Creeds	187	(4)
Orthodox Kalam and the Challenge of Philosophy	191	(4)
Law and the State in Classical Islamic Formulations	195	(24)
Islam As a Way of Life	195	(1)
The Shari'a and Fiqh	195	(1)
The Qur'an and the Law	196	(3)
The Legal Scholars	199	(1)
Schools of Law	200	(1)
The Five Principles	201	(1)
Sunni Law Schools	202	(2)
Shi'i Law Schools	204	(2)
Islamic Political Institutions: Forms, Functions, and Theories	206	(13)
Part Four The Sufi Way of Mysticism and Fellowship
Islamic Mysticism and the Disciplines of Esoteric Piety	219	(26)
Sufism	219	(6)
Asceticism in Early Islamic Contexts	225	(3)
Sufi Symbolism	228	(3)
Sufism As an Esoteric Discipline: The Tariqa or Way	231	(1)
Al-Junayd and Sober Sufism	232	(3)
Antinomian Sufism	235	(1)
Intoxicated Sufism: Al-Hallaj	236	(2)
States and Stations	238	(2)
Al-Ghazali and the Reconciliation of Shari'a and Tariqa	240	(5)
Masters and Disciples: The Forms and Functions of Sufi Orders	245	(24)
The Rise of Sufi Orders	245	(1)
Shaykhs and Faqirs: The Master--Disciple Relationship	245	(2)
The Qadiri Order: Islam's Major International Sufi Brotherhood	247	(2)
Other Classic Sufi Orders	249	(4)
Jalal al-Din al-Rumi and the Mawlawis	253	(2)
Rumi's Poetry	255	(3)
The Silsila or Spiritual Lineage	258	(1)
Dhikr and Sama': Remembrance and the Spiritual Concert	259	(3)
Sufi Theosophy: The Thought of Ibn `Arabi	262	(7)
Part Five Patterns of Islamic Personal and Communal Life
The Islamic Life Cycle and the Family	269	(25)
Islamic Domestic Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs	269	(1)
Rites of Infancy and Childhood	269	(4)
Marriage (Nikah)	273	(5)
Divorce (Talaq)	278	(2)
Inheritance	280	(1)
Property	280	(1)
Interest	281	(1)
Family Life	281	(2)
Food and Eating Habits	283	(2)
Clothing, Ornamentation, and Toilet	285	(2)
Death Rituals	287	(3)
Mourning Customs	290	(4)
Ideals and Realities of Islamic Community Life	294	(27)
The Closeness of the Community	294	(1)
The Mosque	294	(4)
The Marketplace	298	(1)
Public Behavior	299	(3)
Recreation	302	(3)
Official Islam	305	(1)
Popular Islam	306	(1)
The Veneration of Saints	306	(7)
Distinctive Shi'i Ritual Practices	313	(8)
Part Six Islam in the Modern World
Major Movements and Trends in Renewal and Reform	321	(24)
The Three Phases of Islamic History	321	(3)
The Wahhabis	324	(3)
Other Reform Movements	327	(2)
Some Modernist Thinkers	329	(5)
Islam and Nationalism	334	(11)
Three Forms of Islamic Revival: ``Fundamentalism,'' Feminism, and Establishing the Umma in North America	345	(22)
Fundamentalism	345	(6)
Islam and the Status of Women	351	(4)
Islam and Muslims in North America	355	(12)
Suggestions for Further Reading	367	(20)
Glossary	387	(10)
Index	397