About Islam
Islam stands
as one of the major religions of the world and may possibly be the major
religion of the world. Like Christianity and Buddhism, it is an international
cultural form that is integrally rooted in the culture of a single people,
the Arabs. Unlike Christianity and Buddhism, however, Islam has maintained
strong cultural roots in its Arabic origins even down to the language
of its foundation. While no Christian alive knows a single word of Christ's
teachings in the Aramaic or Hebrew that Christ spoke, and only a few
Buddhists can move easily within the Pali that Siddhartha spoke, nearly
every Muslim from Muhammad to the present day begins and ends each day with the magisterial cadences
of the Arabic words spoken by Muhammad as revelation.
The sacred text of the Muslims, the Qur'an,
or "Recitation," is, unlike either the New Testament or the
teachings of Buddha, absolutely authoritative and subject to no questions
since its redaction only a couple decades after the death of Muhammad.
The Christian New Testament, in contrast, circulated in numerous and
contradictory formats so that the present version is highly suspect
and frequently inharmonious; the various schools of Buddhism are often
at loggerheads over the legitimacy of various teachings—these disputed
teachings sometimes form the core of separate movements. In addition
to language and text, at the heart of Islam is the Arabic vision of
the world and society. Codified only a couple hundred years after the
foundation of Islam, the Shari'ah, or law of Islam installed
permanently the Arabic order of society on subsequent generations. The
genius of Islam, then, is fundamentally the genius of the Arabs; the
cadences of Islam are the cadences of the Arabic language; the universe
of Islam was one forged in the mind of Arabic culture. This is the heritage
that we'll explore over countless centuries, this diffusion of Arabic
genius throughout the Middle East, Africa, Europe, India, China, and
finally, the Americas as a late but integral chapter in the African
Diaspora.
We will first start, however, with the Arabs
themselves: merchants, raiders, nomads, and city-dwellers, living at
the crossroads of empires and cultures. For Arabic culture was a
"multiculture," as nomadic, tribal Arabs lived side by side
with Jews, Greeks, Christians, and Persians. The unique character of
Islam and the real genius of Muhammad will involve the fusion of the
multiple cultures into a coherent whole, a vision of the universe and
human life that would eventually become the dominant social and
religious reality in the human world.
But what is Islam as a faith? How can it be
simplified or reduced to a single system? Unlike Christianity and
Buddhism, reducing Islam as faith to a single set of principles is
relatively easy because the faith has remained relatively intact from
its origins to the present day in its fundamentals. While one can
clearly distinguish foundational Christianity as a belief system from
early Christianity, and modern Christianity as a set of beliefs
appears to have almost nothing in common with either foundational or
early Christianity, there's a remarkable coherence in the historical
development of Islam. While one can speak of foundational Islam and
distinguish this from later Islam, for the most part the similarities
between the two outnumber the differences. One finds, then, that a
definition of foundational Islam as represented in the Qur'an and in
the sayings and actions of Muhammad, called the Sunnah, can
more or less be applied to Islam as a whole.
Foundational Islam has the following
characteristics:
-
Islam is monotheistic. The overwhelming
message of Islam is that there is one and only one god, that this
god is single and unified (tawhid). This thesis is
represented in the first half of the Muslim testament of faith:
"there is no god but god." The primary duty of humanity
is to remember that there is only one god in all one's thoughts,
words, and actions; this remembrance, which is the cornerstone of
Islam, is called dhikr. Islam, however, does not reject
other religions. Fundamental to the Islamic message is that all
religions are based on the singularity and unity of God; some
religions, however, have fallen away from this message (such as
Christianity which divides God into Father and Son), but the
essential message of all religions is this unity of God.
-
Islam is creationist. The universe in Islam is
a creation of God and is separate from God. The relationship of
the world (including humanity) to God is the relationship between
created and creator. While God is not present in the world (immanentalism),
still the world reflects the nature and guidance of God.
-
Islam is transcendentalist. Although God
created the universe, God is still absolutely separate from
creation—to postulate that God was part of the changeable world
would be to contradict the unity, singularity, and
unchangeableness of God. Transcendentalism, however, postulates
more than just an absolute separation. It also describes a
relationship between the creator god and creation. In a
transcendental relationship, the transcendent term (God) is
absolutely independent of the non-transcendent term (creation);
however, the non-transcendent term (creation) only has existence,
meaning, or value in relationship to the transcendent term (God).
To say that God is transcendent in Islam is to say that God is
separate, distinct, and independent from the created universe,
but that the created universe, though entirely separate from God,
is nonetheless dependent on God for its existence and value.
-
Islam is rationalistic. At the foundation of
Islam is the principle of iman or faith. This word,
however, is untranslatable into English or other European
langauges since "faith" is rooted in Christianity. In
Christianity, faith is "super-rational," that is, it
exists above the level of rationality; human rationality is
construed as fundamentally useless foundational Christianity
("the wisdom of the world is the wisdom of fools").
Islam, however, postulates that rationality is the highest
function given to human beings and that no "faith" is
legitimate without it. What iman means, then, is something
closer to "reasoned faith." It is expected that each
and every Muslim will carefully weigh the alternatives and, after
exercising their reason on the contents of their faith, will be
ultimately persuaded of the rightness of their faith.
-
Islam is submission. The word, islam,
means "submission," and a muslim is "one
who submits." Islam is the submission of one's actions and
thoughts to God. In general, submission refers to the ritualistic
rules that each and every Muslim must obey; these rituals,
however, are primarily symbolic of one's submission to the will
of God. Submission to God is displayed in each and every action;
the law (Shari'a) built off of the text of the Qur'an and
the various precepts in the Sunnah is to be obeyed in every
respect.
-
Islam is androcentric. The most important
aspect of creation in Islam is humanity, which is the "viceregent
of God on earth." While Islam adopts the Judeo-Christian
idea of the fall, humanity is in general glorified in
foundational and later Islam. Despite the Fall, humanity has the
power to discern the unity of God and the reflection of the
nature of God in creation. At the core of the Islamic message is
that it is possible for human beings to live a perfect life in
relationship to God—the life of Muhammad was one such perfect
life and the concern with recording and remembering all of
Muhammad's actions argues that each individual Muslim could imitate Muhammad. In Islam, the dignity of humanity is one of the
most recurring themes of the religion.
-
Islam is world-affirming. As a corollary to
the generally optimistic view that Islam takes towards humanity,
it also construes the created world as fundamentally a good place
that was designed for the use and enjoyment of humanity. The use
and enjoyment of the world, then, is not a spiritual
falling-away, as it is in Christianity, but an active part of the
religious life if it is used with the right intention. This
includes sexuality, for even Muhammad was married and had sexual
relations. This world-affirming aspect of Islam would have
far-reaching consequences in the culture of Islam. While
Christian Europe, for instance, largely abandoned Greek and Roman
science and mercantilism, both of these were preserved and
thrived in the Islamic world.
-
Islam is an afterlife religion. Strictly
speaking, Islam is not a "salvation" religion even
though the religion is ruthlessly focussed on the afterlife. The
goal of individual life is to attain an afterlife within one of
the heavens described in the Qur'an and to avoid one of the
numerous hells. Salvation religions, however, postulate that
admission to paradise or a good afterlife is almost solely in the
control of god or some god; in Islam, however, one's afterlife is
in large part determined by the sum of one's activities in this
life over which one has complete responsibility. In that
sense, it's not fair to describe Islam as a salvation religion;
unlike salvation religions, Islam requires the active, ethical
participation of the faithful in every circumstance of the
conduct of their lives.
-
Islam is eschatological. In the Islamic view
of history, time is finite and follows an overall, predetermined
course. Each human age begins with the foundation of a new
religion founded on the unity of God; each new religion is
introduced by a rasul or "messenger." Following
the introduction of this new monotheism, humanity gradually falls
away and the religion becomes corrupt. Periodically, God sends
"prophets" to renew the original vigor of the
monotheistic religion, but the overall course is a decline in the
monotheistic vision. At the lowest stage of decline, God sends
another "messenger" that renews monotheism by creating
a new religion; the sixth "messenger" was Jesus Christ
and the seventh, and last, was Muhammad. At the end of the
seventh period, when the new religion has declined, history will
come to an end. At the end of history, all humans will be judged
based on the contents of their lives, both in terms of faith,
submission, and ethical actions, and will be permanently assigned
to a place of punishment or one of many paradises.
-
Islam is ethical. Like Christianity,
foundational Islam is overwhelmingly concerned with individuals
as ethical agents. The Qur'an itself deals primarily with two
subjects: the unity of God and human ethical responsibilities to
the community. In addition, the Sunnah, being both sayings and actions of Muhammad, is meant to be a guide to practical
living in the here and now. The Qur'an, then, in most of its
history has been primarily used as a guide for behavior and
social organization. Unlike foundational Christianity, the
ethical imperatives of Islam are communal rather than
individualistic.
-
Islam is societistic. Perhaps stemming from
the fact that Islam arises in a predominately tribal culture
organized around kinship lines, the religion is primarily focused
on the community and society rather than the individual. While
the individual is responsible for his or her salvation, Islam
requires that each individual participate in the moral life of
the community. If one were to sum up the societistic
responsibility of the Muslim it would be this: it is incumbent on
each Muslim to "islamicize" society, that is, to bring
the life of society in line with the ethical philosophy contained
in the Qur'an and the Sunnah.
-
Islam is primarily exoteric. Islam is
primarily an exoteric religion: it is focussed on the community
of the faithful rather than limited to exceptional individuals.
The rituals and ethical guidelines are meant for everybody and
salvation through individual exertion is available to all.
Foundational and later Islam, however, does recognize a hierarchy
among the faithful: there are the "nobility," or
spiritually more perfect, and the "common" faithful, or
spiritually less perfect.
-
Islam is both exterioristic and interioristic.
Islam requires of its believers both an outward and an inward
conformance to the rules and practices of the faith. Unlike
foundational Christianity, Islam doesn't fully reject the
rigorous and faithful observance of rituals and ethical
practices, but like Christianity, Islam understands that these
rituals and ethical practices can be done mechanically, that is,
that they don't reflect the interior state of the individual. For
this reason, Islam requires that all rituals and behaviors be
accompanied by the "right intention." While this can't
be measured by exterior actions, anyone wo doesn't perform the
rituals and ethical behaviors are certainly proving that they
don't have the right intentions.
-
Islam is egalitarian. Like Christianity, Islam
is based on the fundamental notion that each human being is
spiritually equal to every other human being in the eyes of God.
The rituals of Islam, from daily prayers to the pilgrimage to
Mecca, are meant to stress this spiritual egalitarianism. This
spiritual egalitarianism, however, does not mean social
egalitarianism. Social distinctions and subordination, such as
the subordination of women to men, are seen as necessary to the
maintenance of society, order, and morality.
Sources: Islam
from Washington State University, �Richard Hooker, reprinted by
permission. |