Vision of Islam

by Murata, Sachiko; Chittick, William C.

• ISBN13: 9781557785169
• ISBN10: 1557785163
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-06-01
• Publisher: INGRAM

Summary

Covering the four dimensions of Islam as outlined in the Hadith of Gabriel--practice, faith, spirituality, and the Islamic view of history--The Vision of Islam draws on the Koran, the sayings of the Prophet and the great authorities of the tradition. This clearly written book introduces the essentials of each dimension and then shows how each has been embodied in Islamic institutions throughout history.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix	(5)
Introduction	xiv
The Koran	xiv	(5)
The Messenger of God	xix	(6)
The Hadith of Gabriel	xxv	(2)
Religion	xxvii	(5)
Three Dimensions of Islam	xxxii	(2)
Islamic Learning	xxxiv	(4)
A Fourth Dimension	xxxviii
PART I: Islam	1	(34)
The Word Islam	3	(5)
Chapter 1. The Five Pillars	8	(20)
Practice: Embodied Submission	8	(1)
The First Pillar: The Shahadah	9	(2)
The Second Pillar: Salat	11	(5)
The Third Pillar: Zakat	16	(1)
The Fourth Pillar: Fasting	17	(2)
The Fifth Pillar: Hajj	19	(1)
A Sixth Pillar? Jihad and Mujahada	20	(2)
The Shariah	22	(3)
Sin	25	(3)
Chapter 2. The Historical Embodiment of Islam	28	(7)
The Koran and the Sunna	28	(2)
The Madhhabs	30	(2)
Jurisprudence and Politics	32	(3)
PART II: Iman	35	(10)
Islam and Iman	37	(6)
The Three Principles	43	(2)
Chapter 3. Tawhid	45	(87)
The First Shahadah	45	(2)
God	47	(37)
Shirk	49	(3)
The Signs of God	52	(2)
Interpreting the Signs	54	(8)
Divine Names	58	(4)
Speech	62	(2)
Essence and Attributes	64	(3)
Mercy and Wrath	67	(1)
Nearness and Distance	68	(2)
Tanzih and Tashbih	70	(4)
Mercy's Precedence	74	(3)
Acts	77	(2)
The Unseen and the Visible	79	(1)
Heaven and Earth	80	(4)
Angels	84	(20)
God's Unseen Messengers	85	(2)
Light	87	(2)
Angelic Luminosity	89	(3)
Clay	92	(1)
Spirits and Bodies	93	(4)
Fire	97	(3)
Soul	100	(2)
Imagination	102	(1)
Summary	103	(1)
The Measuring Out	104	(28)
Creative Power	104	(4)
Good and Evil	108	(5)
Trial	111	(2)
Freedom	113	(4)
Creaturely Diversity	117	(3)
The Human Being	120	(4)
Servant and Vicegerent	124	(2)
The Merciful King	126	(2)
The Hierarchy of Creation	128	(4)
Chapter 4. Prophecy	132	(61)
The Message of the Prophets	132	(32)
The Second Shahadah	132	(1)
Prophet and Messenger	133	(1)
The Trust	134	(3)
Innate Human Nature	137	(2)
Adam and Iblis	139	(3)
The Fall	142	(2)
Heedlessness	144	(3)
Dhikr	147	(2)
Responding to the Signs of God	149	(2)
Guidance and Misguidance	151	(4)
Wrongdoing	155	(3)
God's Two Hands	158	(6)
Islam and Other Religions	164	(29)
The Universality and Particularity of Prophecy	164	(4)
Judaism and Christianity	168	(7)
The Koran	175	(6)
Names of the Koran	181	(3)
The Prophet Muhammad	184	(3)
Good News and Warning	187	(6)
Chapter 5. The Return	193	(43)
Stages of Life and Death	193	(20)
Life and Death	196	(1)
This World and the Next World	197	(3)
The Grave	200	(2)
The End of the World	202	(2)
The Resurrection	204	(7)
Hell and Paradise	211	(2)
The Unfolding of the Soul	213	(23)
Shaping the Divine Form	213	(3)
Imagination	216	(5)
The Dreamworld	221	(2)
The Barzakh	223	(3)
Meeting the Angels	226	(5)
Final Judgment	231	(5)
Chapter 6. The Intellectual Schools	236	(29)
The Expression of Faith in the Earliest Period	239	(3)
Kalam	242	(4)
Theoretical Sufism	246	(1)
Philosophy	247	(3)
The Two Poles of Understanding	250	(7)
Kalam's Rationality	257	(1)
Philosophy's Abstraction	258	(4)
Sufism's Vision	262	(3)
PART III: Ihsan	265	(54)
Chapter 7. The Koranic Roots of Ihsan	267	(28)
The Word Ihsan	267	(6)
Worship	273	(3)
Seeing God	276	(1)
Sincerity	277	(5)
God-wariness	282	(3)
Love	285	(3)
Wholesomeness	288	(7)
Chapter 8. The Historical Manifestations of Ihsan	295	(24)
Supplication	295	(3)
Art and Poetry	298	(6)
Practical Sufism	304	(5)
The Ethos of Love	309	(3)
The Embodiment of Spirit	312	(7)
PART IV: Islam in History	319	(18)
Chapter 9. History as Interpretation	321	(8)
Islamic Interpretation of the Past	324	(2)
The Marks of the End	326	(3)
Chapter 10. The Contemporary Situation	329	(8)
The Declining Fortunes of Islam	330	(2)
Reading the Signs of History	332	(5)
Select Glossary	337	(10)
Appendix: Sources of the Hadiths	347	(6)
Notes	353	(8)
Index	361