[AN INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM]
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Islam is a worldwide religion embracing many cultures and nations. Today nearly 900 million people practice the Islamic religion World Wide. Muslims believe that Allah revealed to the prophet Muhammad guidance for proper conduct in this world and the next life. This paper will review Waine’s book, “An introduction to Islam.”
David Waines divides Introduction to Islam into three major parts. These parts are discussed by the author so as to distinguish the Islamic religion from the other religion. Part one of the article incorporates the Qur’an and the Sunnah in the influential periods. Part two discusses and is devoted to teaching on Islamic teachings as well as Islamic practices. Part two also includes in its theology, Shi’ism, Islamic law, and Sufism chapters. The first two chapters reveal the revelation and experiences of their Prophet, whom they named Mohammad. Consequently, part three recounts the years in the last centuries where Islamic religion was mainly challenged by Western hegemony. Part three sought to establish a modern sense of identity for the Islamic religion.
The author starts by painting pictures of the pre-Islamic pagan Arabia on the eve of Islam’s advent. Waines discusses the role and significance of the pre-Islamic Arabs and how they accorded their pantheon deities. Similarly, he goes ahead and discusses the birth of Prophet Mohammad, the event of Qur’an’s revelation, and the opposition he encounters from the fellow tribesmen in Makkah. An analysis of the Qur’ans’s significance is also discussed in the chapter, its conception of divinity, and the importance of Hadith as a source of guidance for Muslims.
Mohammad was born in Mecca; his father was born and then raised by his grandfather and later raised by his uncle. Waines claims that Mohammad belonged to a low-income family; however, his family was respected by the Quraysh tribe as it was active in Meccan politics and trade. In his teens, Mohammad worked in a camel caravan. Occasionally Mohammad took journeys of devotion to sacred sites near Mecca. On one of his pilgrimages, the Angel Gabriel appeared and relayed God’s word, and these words later became the opening verses of the surah. Most people in Mecca’s tribe started to see his messages as a threat. The resistance grew towards him and his followers, eventually forcing them to the emirate from Mecca to Medina. The city of Mecca where Mohammad was born was an important center of pagan worship in the peninsula. To Muslims, Mohammed had a different mission, first is the scripture, the Qur’an, meaning he had to interpret the revelation from Allah to Muhammad, which were delivered to him through the agency of the angel Gabriel. The Prophet was the medium through which the word was communicated. He was, therefore, the interpreter in the conduct of his daily affairs among his followers. Ishaq describes the end of pagan Mecca, which was also marked by the destruction of the idols of Ka’bah on which Muhammad always recited the Qur’anic verse “the truth has come, and falsehood has passed away (17:82)
Waines suggests that in pagan eyes Allah was viewed as the most “high God,” he was viewed as the creator of the heavens and earth. Thus, in matters of daily concern, Allah occupied a particular role alongside other gods in the Arabs’ pantheon. Waines explains the principles of Mu’tazilite and Ash’arite doctrine; he also outlines some of Neoplatonic Islamic philosophy’s ideas. Mu’tazilites believes that good and evil are not always determined by revealed scripture or interpretation of scripture. Mu’tazilites are established through unaided reasons; this is because knowledge is derived from reason. Thus, reason and scripture were the final determinants of right from wrong.
There are five principles of Mu’tazilite: monotheism, justice, and unity as Mu’tazilis pointed at the free will of human beings, as evil is defined as something that stems from human errors acts. The third principle is the invertibility of threats and promises of God. Humans will not go back on their words, nor can they act contrary to what they had promised and warned against, nor even lie in that which they report, which is in contrast to what the Postponers hold. The fourth principle is the principle of an intermediate position, which dictates that Muslims who commit grave sin and die without repenting are not considered mu’minin believers, nor are they considered as Kafirs, which are the non-believers. Thus, they are in an intermediate position between the two. The fifth principle is the principle of an injunction of right and the prohibition of wrong.
Part three, “Islam in the modern world,” begins with Ibn Battutah journey, which begins in Morocco to Makkah in 1325. Comparisons of Ottomans, Moghuls, and Safavid are discussed in this part by the author. He relatively touches on the themes of Islamic jurisprudence and Sufism. In accordance with the themes of Islam, Waines claims that Islams believe in Allah as the one God and only God and in the Prophet as well as in the scriptures. Islams believe that there is judgment day, an afterlife, because of the belief of the existence of hereafter and an afterlife. Part three, “Islam in the modern world,” begins with Ibn Battutah journey which begins in Morocco to Makkh in 1325. Comparisons of Ottomans, Moghuls and Safavid are discussed in this part by the author. He relatively touches on the themes of Islamic jurisprudence and Sufism. In accordance with the themes the of the Islam, Waines claims that Islams believe in Allah as the one God and only God and in the Prophet as well as in the scriptures. Islams believe that there is judgment day, an afterlife; this because of the belief in the existence of hereafter and an afterlife.
Part three, “Islam in the modern world,” begins with Ibn Battutah journey, which begins in Morocco to Makkah in 1325. Comparisons of Ottomans, Moghuls, and Safavid are discussed in this part by the author. He relatively touches on the themes of Islamic jurisprudence and Sufism. In accordance with the themes of Islam, Waines claims that Islams believe in Allah as the one God and only God and in the Prophet as well as in the scriptures. Islams believe that there is judgment day, an afterlife, because of the belief of the existence of hereafter and an afterlife.
In the third and the longest part of Waine’s work, he incorporates Ibn Battutah’s travel account. He describes the role mosque plays in a Muslim’s daily life. Mosque commonly serves as a location for prayer, Ramadan vigils, funeral services, Sufi ceremonies, marriage as well as a homeless shelter. Muslims go to the mosque to pray and to recite the scriptures of the Qu’ran. Waines describes how important mosques provide a free environment where Muslims can freely share a moment in prayers. Religious concepts and practices include the five pillars of Islam, which are also the basic concepts and obligatory worship acts. The five pillars include; Shahadah, a confession of faith, Solat, which was worship in the form of prayer. The third pillar was Sawm Ramadan, which represented fasting during the month of Ramadan. Zakat represented charitable giving and, finally, Hajj, pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.
On the other hand, Islamic art differs from Christian religious art tradition in accordance with Waine’s book. Figural representations are forbidden in Islam. Qu’rans is one important aspect of Islamic art because the word takes on religious and artistic significance. Waines outline Islamic architecture such as the mosque and palatial garden as important works to Muslims. For example, many Islamic arts, such as arabesque, symbolize the transcendent, invisible nature of Allah. Muslims believes that the use of human or animal figure is a form of idolatry which thereby a sin that is forbidden in the Qur’an.
One architecture of Islam is the mosque. Waines shows the early forms of mosques, including the early Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia. Ottoman Mosque emerged in Bursa and Edirne. The earliest form of Arabic calligraphy is the Kufic script, noted for its angular form. Waines takes readers through an interesting journey of the features of the three gunpowder. The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal dynasties established control over Tukey, Iran, and India, respectively, because of the Chinese invention.
Among the three gunpowder empires’ features include; autocratic policy where the emperors imposed their will on the state. Ottoman rulers similarly killed brothers after taking the throne. The Ottoman empire’s social structure was inclusive of four social groups, namely, men of the pen, men of the sword, men of negotiations, and men of husbandry. However, women had no rights aside from tradition, class, and husband’s wishes. The Safavid had a traditional social structure. Women mainly wore the veil and lived in seclusion.
In the book, the author traces the Nation of Islam. Islam began as an idiosyncratic theory under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad. Islam then transformed to normative Islam, which was during the leadership of Wallace D. Muhammad. Later on, the splinter group of Minister Lous Farrakhan adversely continued to expound on Elijah Muhammad’s Nation’s teachings, which they viewed as more relevant to the true conditions of the majority of America’s black population.
Similarly, the author covers the historical development of Shi’ism. In the book, the author covers some of the sorrowful moods of the Shi’ah as he also distinguishes differences between historical events and legends. Shi’ism treatment in the book will in a great way to help Sunni readers understand Shi’ism in relation to Sunni belief. In the author’s work, Shi’ism’s historical development is started with the prophet Muhammad and Ali in Abu Talibs’ customs. The present customs are relatively outlined, such as the commemoration of Husayn’s martyrdom in the Karbala incident.
The remainder of the book discusses the traditions of Wahhabism. To Islams, Wahhabism is a puritanical form of Sunni. Muhammad Abd al Wahhab founded a religious movement that sought to reverse what he perceived as a moral decline of his society. Wahhabism opposes the celebrations of the Prophet’s birthday and some practices associated with mystical teachings of Sufism.
In conclusion, the author successfully relates characteristic aspects of Muslim civilization to Islam’s sacred source. The author introduces the readers to the historical background of Islamic culture by first giving a brief history of Muhammad. This is a helpful source of information as it generates an idea of why and how he got appointed. The book also outlines the importance of the Qur’an and why Muslims need to recite the readings in it. The powerful message the author relays is useful in distinguishing the Islamic religion from Christianity. The author has succeeded in demonstrating that the Qur’an is the bedrock of practically every aspect of Islamic religious culture.