An Introduction to Islam

by Denny, Frederick M.

• ISBN13: 9780023285202
• ISBN10: 0023285206
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1985-01-01
• 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

Preface	p. xiii
Religion and Common Life in the Pre-Islamic Near East
Early Civilizations and the Origins of Judaism and Christianity	p. 3
Egypt the Land	p. 3
Mesopotamia the Land	p. 7
The Origins of Judaism	p. 11
Abraham	p. 11
Moses	p. 15
Later Religious Development	p. 16
The Prophets	p. 17
From Ancient Israelite Religion to Judaism	p. 19
Awaiting God's Messiah	p. 20
Jesus of Nazareth	p. 21
Paul	p. 23
Christianity	p. 24
Christianity and Judaism	p. 25
Pre-Islamic Arabia: Beliefs, Values, Way of Life	p. 29
Pre-Islamic Arabia: Beliefs, Values, Way of Life	p. 29
Social Structure and Economy	p. 31
Poetry	p. 36
Pre-Islamic Religion	p. 37
The Coming of Islam: The Prophet, His People, and God's Religion
Muhammad and the Early Muslim Community	p. 47
Before Muhammad	p. 47
Muhammad the Person	p. 48
Muhammad the Prophet	p. 51
The Qur'an	p. 52
The First Muslims	p. 54
The Development of Islam	p. 55
The Qur'an's Divine Message	p. 59
The Hijra	p. 61
Muhammad's Later Life	p. 67
Muhammad's Personal Life	p. 69
The Arab Conquests and Islamic Rule: The Struggle for a Unified Umma	p. 72
Muhammad's Heirs	p. 72
The Muslims' Foreign Conquests	p. 73
Early Muslim Governments and the Spread of the Umma	p. 75
Two Approaches to Politics and Rule	p. 81
The Spread of the Islamic Empire	p. 82
The Abbasids	p. 85
Other Muslim Peoples	p. 88
Islam's Achievements	p. 91
The Islamic Religious System
The Basic Beliefs and Worship Practices of Islam	p. 97
The Five Doctrines of Islamic Faith	p. 97
The Five Acts of Worship	p. 103
Purification	p. 104
Ritual Impurity	p. 105
The Pillars of Islam	p. 109
The Nature and Function of the Qur'an	p. 128
Language, Format, and Chronology	p. 128
Recitation and Ritual Observances	p. 132
Contents and Nature of the Qur'an	p. 138
Interpretation of the Qur'an	p. 140
The "Inimitability" of the Qur'an	p. 145
The Prophet's Sunna as Preserved in the Hadith	p. 149
Muhammad and Scripture	p. 149
The Form of the Hadith	p. 151
Major Collections of Hadith	p. 155
The Prophet's and His Companions' Sunnas	p. 158
Muhammad as an Ideal Human	p. 159
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. 172
Three Muslim Creeds	p. 179
Orthodox Kalam and the Challenge of Philosophy	p. 183
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'i Law Schools	p. 197
Islamic Political Institutions: Forms, Functions, and Theories	p. 198
The Sufi Way of Mysticism and Fellowship
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. 229
States and Stations	p. 231
Al-Ghazali and the Reconciliation of Shari'a and Tariqa	p. 233
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
The Islamic Life Cycle and the Family	p. 263
Islamic Domestic Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs	p. 263
Rites of Infancy and Childhood	p. 263
Marriage (Nikah)	p. 267
Divorce (Talaq)	p. 272
Inheritance	p. 274
Property	p. 274
Interest	p. 275
Family Life	p. 276
Food and Eating Habits	p. 278
Clothing, Ornamentation, and Toilet	p. 279
Death Rituals	p. 281
Mourning Customs	p. 284
Ideals and Realities of Islamic Community Life	p. 289
The Closeness of the Community	p. 289
The Mosque	p. 289
The Marketplace	p. 293
Public Behavior	p. 294
Recreation	p. 297
Official Islam	p. 300
Popular Islam	p. 301
The Veneration of Saints	p. 301
Distinctive Shi'i Ritual Practices	p. 307
Islam in the Modern World
Major Movements and Trends in Renewal and Reform	p. 315
Three Phases of Islamic History	p. 315
The Wahhabis	p. 318
Other Reform Movements	p. 321
Some Modernist Thinkers	p. 323
Islam and Nationalism	p. 328
Three Forms of Islamic Revival: "Fundamentalism," Feminism, and Establishing the Umma in North America	p. 340
Fundamentalism	p. 340
Islam and the Status of Women	p. 346
Islam and Muslims in North America	p. 350
Whither Islam and the Muslims? Progressive Muslims with a Vision of an "Islam without Borders"	p. 363
"Westoxication"	p. 364
Modernity and Westernization in the Post-9/11 World	p. 365
Progressive Muslims	p. 369
Progressive Assertiveness	p. 372
An Iranian Shi'ite Muslim's Voice in Human Rights and Rational Discourse	p. 372
Muslim Women Scholar-Activists	p. 375
Conclusion	p. 377
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 381
Glossary	p. 403
Acknowledgments	p. 413
Index	p. 415
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