Introduction to Islam

by Denny; Frederick

• ISBN13: 9780138144777
• ISBN10: 013814477X
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781317347262
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780131835634
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-01-11
• Publisher: ROUTLEDGE
• More Book Details

Summary

The author's extensive field work, experience, and scholarship combined with his engaging writing style and passion for the subject sets this text apart. An Introduction to Islam, Fourth Edition, provides students with a thorough and unified topical introduction to the global religious community of Islam. It places Islam within a cultural, political, social, and religious context and examines its connections with Judeo-Christian morals. The text's integration of the doctrinal and devotional elements of Islam enables students to see how Muslims think and liveengendering understanding and breaking down stereotypes.An Introduction to Islam, Fourth Editionalso reviews pre-Islamic history so students can see how Islam developed historically

Author Biography

Frederick Denny, Professor Emeritus (Ph.D., University of Chicago), is the editor of the University of South Carolina Press scholarly book series "Studies in Comparative Religion", which currently has ca. 35 titles published. He is the author of An Introduction to Islam (4th edition Prentice-Hall, 2010) and numerous articles on Islamic and Religious Studies topics. He co-authored (with John Corrigan, Carlos Eire, and Martin Jaffee) Jews, Christians, Muslims: A Comparative Introduction to Monotheistic Religions (Prentice-Hall: 1998). His long-term areas of interest have been Qur'anic recitation, comparative ritual, and Muslims and their communities in Egypt, Pakistan, Southeast Asia and North America. His recent and current research and writing have been principally on Islam and human rights, religion and ecology, religion-focused cartography, and Unitarian Universalist history and thought.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
A General Introduction to Islam's Basic Teachings and Practices	p. 1
Religion and Common Life in the Pre-Islamic Near East	p. 5
Early Civilizations and the Origins of Judaism and Christianity	p. 7
Egypt the Land	p. 7
Mesopotamia the Land	p. 11
The Origins of Judaism	p. 15
Abraham	p. 15
Moses	p. 18
Later Religious Development	p. 19
The Prophets	p. 20
From Ancient Israelite Religion to Judaism	p. 22
Awaiting God's Messiah	p. 23
Jesus of Nazareth	p. 23
Paul	p. 25
Christianity	p. 26
Christianity and Judaism	p. 27
Pre-Islamic Arabia: Beliefs, Values, Way of Life	p. 32
Pre-Islamic Arabia	p. 32
Social Structure and Economy	p. 34
Poetry	p. 39
Pre-Islamic Religion	p. 40
The Coming of Islam: The Prophet, His People, and God's Religion	p. 47
Muhammad and the Early Muslim Community	p. 49
Before Muhammad	p. 49
Muhammad the Person	p. 50
Muhammad the Prophet	p. 53
The Qur'an	p. 55
The First Muslims	p. 56
The Development of Islam	p. 57
The Qur'an's Divine Message	p. 61
The Hijra	p. 63
Muhammad's Later Life	p. 69
Muhammad's Personal Life	p. 71
The Arab Conquests and Islamic Rule: The Struggle for a Unified Umma	p. 74
Muhammad's Heirs	p. 74
The Muslims' Foreign Conquests	p. 75
Early Muslim Governments and the Spread of the Umma	p. 78
Two Approaches to Politics and Rule	p. 83
The Spread of the Islamic Empire	p. 84
The Abbasids	p. 87
Other Muslim Peoples	p. 90
Islam's Achievements	p. 94
The Islamic Religious System	p. 97
The Basic Beliefs and Worship Practices of Islam	p. 99
The Five Doctrines of Islamic Faith	p. 99
The Five Acts of Worship	p. 105
Purification	p. 105
Ritual Impurity	p. 107
The Pillars of Islam	p. 110
The Nature and Function of the Qur'an	p. 130
Language, Format, and Chronology	p. 130
Recitation and Ritual Observances	p. 134
Contents and Nature of the Qur'an	p. 140
Interpretation of the Qur'an	p. 142
The "Inimitability" of the Qur'an	p. 146
The Prophet's Sunna as Preserved in the Hadith	p. 150
Muhammad and Scripture	p. 150
The Form of the Had?th	p. 152
Major Collections of Had?th	p. 156
The Prophet's and His Companions' Sunnas	p. 159
Muhammad as an Ideal Human	p. 160
Muslim Creeds and Theologies: Their Purposes and Varieties	p. 164
Theology	p. 164
Islamic Theology	p. 166
Theological Issues	p. 167
The Place of Reason	p. 170
The Mu'tazilite Rationalists	p. 171
Mu'tazilite Thought	p. 173
Three Muslim Creeds	p. 180
Orthodox Kal?m and the Challenge of Philosophy	p. 184
Law and the State in Classical Islamic Formulations	p. 187
Islam as a Way of Life	p. 187
The Shari'a and Fiqh	p. 187
The Qur'an and the Law	p. 188
The Legal Scholars	p. 191
Schools of Law	p. 193
The Five Principles	p. 194
Sunni Law Schools	p. 195
Shi'iLaw Schools	p. 197
Islamic Political Institutions: Forms, Functions, and Theories	p. 198
Islamic Law and the State in the Present Era	p. 207
The Sufi Way of Mysticism and Fellowship	p. 209
Islamic Mysticism and the Disciplines of Esoteric Piety	p. 211
Sufism	p. 211
Asceticism in Early Islamic Contexts	p. 217
Sufi Symbolism	p. 221
Sufism as an Esoteric Discipline: The Tariqa or Way	p. 223
Al-Junayd and Sober Sufism	p. 225
Antinomian Sufism	p. 227
Intoxicated Sufism; Al-Hallaj	p. 228
States and Stations	p. 231
Al-Ghazadli and the Reconciliation of Shari'aand Tariqa	p. 232
Masters and Disciples: The Forms and Functions of Sufi Orders	p. 238
The Rise of Sufi Orders	p. 238
Shaykhs and Faqirs: The Master-Disciple Relationship	p. 239
The Qadiri Order: Islam's Major International Sufi Brotherhood	p. 240
Other Classic Sufi Orders	p. 242
Jalal al-Din al-Rumi and the Mawlawis	p. 246
Rumi's Poetry	p. 248
The Silsila or Spiritual Lineage	p. 251
Dhikr and Sama': Remembrance and the Spiritual Concert	p. 252
Sufi Theosophy: The Thought of Ibn 'Arabi	p. 256
Patterns of Islamic Personal and Communal Life	p. 261
The Islamic Life Cycle and the Family	p. 263
Islamic Domestic Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs	p. 263
Rites of Infancy and Childhood	p. 264
Marriage (Nikah)	p. 268
Divorce (Talaq)	p. 273
Inheritance	p. 274
Property	p. 275
Interest	p. 275
Family Life	p. 276
Food and Eating Habits	p. 278
Clothing, Ornamentation, and Toilet	p. 280
Death Rituals	p. 282
Mourning Customs	p. 285
Ideals and Realities of Islamic Community Life	p. 289
The Closeness of the Community	p. 289
The Mosque	p. 290
The Marketplace	p. 293
Public Behavior	p. 294
Recreation	p. 297
Official Islam	p. 299
Popular Islam	p. 301
The Veneration of Saints	p. 301
Distinctive Shi'i Ritual Practices	p. 307
Islam in the Modern World	p. 313
Major Movements and Trends in Renewal and Reform	p. 315
Three Phases of Islamic History	p. 315
TheWahhabis	p. 318
Other Reform Movements	p. 321
Some Modernist Thinkers	p. 324
Islam and Nationalism	p. 330
Three Forms of Islamic Revival: "Fundamentalism," Feminism, and Establishing the Umma in North America	p. 341
Fundamentalism	p. 342
Islam and the Status of Women	p. 348
Islam and Muslims in North America	p. 352
Whither Islam and the Muslims? Progressive Muslims with a Vision of an "Islam without Borders"	p. 365
Westoxication	p. 366
Modernity and Westernization in the Post 9/11 World	p. 367
Progressive Muslims	p. 371
Progressive Assertiveness	p. 373
An Iranian Shi'ite Muslim's Voice in Human Rights and Rational Discourse	p. 374
Muslim Women Scholar-Activists	p. 377
Conclusion	p. 380
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 383
Glossary	p. 402
Acknowledgments	p. 410
Index	p. 412
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