Islam

0. INTRODUCTION
0.1. Importance of the study of Islam
0.2. Pre-Islamic Arabia: traditional religion, Judaism and Christianity

1. MUHAMMAD: PROPHET AND FOUNDER OF ISLAM

1.1. Muhammad in Mecca and Medina
1.2. The Islamic community under Muhammad
1.3. Islamic expansion after Muhammad

2. THE QUR’AN
2.1. Origin, nature and function
2.2. Sunnah and Hadith

3. ISLAM: RELIGION AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

3.1. The Pillars of Islam
3.2. The Ummah
3.3. The Sharia Law
3.4. The Main Branches of Islam
3.4.1. Sunnism
3.4.2. Twelve-Imam Shi’ism

4. THE ISLAMIC THOUGHT

4.1. Theology and philosophy
4.2. Spirituality
4.3. Mysticism

5. ISLAM TODAY
5.1. Islam in Africa
5.2. Islam in Malawi
5.3. Dialogue between Muslims and Christians

Readings

Abdalati M., Islam in Focus, Indiana, American Trust Publications, 1975.

Jomier J., How to understand Islam, London: SCM, 1993.
Denny F.M., An Introduction to Islam, New York: Macmillan, 1965.
Endress G., An Introduction to Islam, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998.

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 0. INTRODUCTION
The words Islam and Muslim come from the Arabic “aslama” which means submission. A
Muslim is therefore someone who has submitted to God (Allah) and Islam is the framework in
which a Muslim expresses himself/herself when he/she turns to God, the Creator, and the Master
of the Universe, who gives people special guidance by sending them prophets, the most
important of whom is Muhammad. Muhammad is the one who preached Islam and founded the
Muslim community that has, over the centuries spread throughout the world.
We are undertaking a religious study of Islam with the intention of enhancing the dialogue
between Islam and Christianity in order to ensure a peaceful co-existence between the members
of these two world religions. After studying the origins, the main divisions and the spread of
Islam, we shall look into the relationship between God and the human person in Islam and the
relations between men as taught and practiced by Muslim individuals and communities. This will
help us to cover the religious experience of Muslims through the practice required by the Law or
engaged in out of devotion. We shall also do a brief study of mystical, theological and
philosophical literature.

0.1. The importance of the study of Islam.

Of the world’s five billion people, nine hundred million are Muslims; this means that more
than a fifth of humanity is Muslim. Islam then is one of the world’s most important religions. In
Africa, the whole of North Africa, a big part of West Africa and most of the Eastern Coast of
Africa is predominantly Muslim.
Since African culture accepts pluralism, where bad politics has not created enmity between
people, Muslims and Christians live together in the same families, villages and towns but where
fundamentalism is the order of the day, Christians suffer in Muslim countries as Muslims suffer
in predominantly Christian countries. It is worthy noting that Christianity survived centuries of
Muslim domination in Spain and Portugal; Islamic culture left its mark on the languages and
cultures of those two countries. Islam also survived Western imperialism for centuries. There
was a time when most of the Muslim world was colonised by Christian powers.
Islam has influenced the world of science and technology in many ways. Some inventions in
medicine, astronomy, art, philosophy, mathematics (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, the Arabic
numbers etc) and architecture were developed by Muslim thinkers. Some of these inventions
were made for religious purposes. Many English words like sugar, alcove (al qubba), alcohol
(alkuhl), jacket (shakk) and mattress (matrah) are Arabic in origin. They are used almost
everywhere in the world with local variations.
The recent rise in Islamic fundamentalism linked Islam to acts of terrorism and has worsened
the prejudices that non-Muslims had against Islam and eclipsed the positive values found in it.
Prejudices in most cases are fruits of ignorance and the best way to overcome them is to study
deeply one’s own faith and the faith of the other in a spirit of dialogue and reconciliation.

0.2. Pre-Islamic Arabia: traditional religion, Judaism and Christianity

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The religion of the Arab tribes before the Islamic era was in many aspects the same as the
Babylonian one. Illu Bel, Samas, Istar, Sin, Samadan, and Nisruk were worshipped under the
names of Il, Bil, Athtor, Sin, Simdan and Nasr in Yemen. The god Il was the object of a national
cult, he was also known as Dhu Samawi, Lord of the sky and Rahman, the merciful. The
Babylonian triad of Venus-Sun-Moon was also known to the Sabeans of the Arabian Peninsula
who had a sidereal cult in which prayers were addressed to the sun at different moments of its
development. They made invocations to the seven planets and prayed seven times a day facing
north, and following the sun at the different moments of its development. These very prayers
were reduced to five obligatory ones by the Prophet of Islam “in order to ease humanity”.
There used to be sacred water sources and stones, e.g. Zamzam and Ka’ba. The Pilgrimage at
Mecca was there before the coming of Islam, the belief in life after death was there and the dead
were divinised. This religion was a secular one; it had no clergy.
Judaism and Christianity were present in the Arabian Peninsula right from the very time of
their beginning. There were Judaized Arabs and a number of Jewish colonies in Medina and in
many parts of South Arabia with rabbis and schools. The common traits between Judaism and
Islam are a sign of similarities in culture and history in the pre-Islamic period.
Similarly, there were Christian centres in Arabia, as in the oasis of Najran, around 500
miles southeast of Mecca, or in certain southern cities, which had churches. In Mecca there were
sometimes Christian slaves, Christian merchants and even itinerant monks who went about
preaching. Moreover, the population of Southern Arabia, apart from being a mixture between a
white race and a black one, which most probably originated from Ethiopia, was ruled by
Christian Ethiopia for several centuries.

CHAPTER 1

1. MUHAMMAD: PROPHET AND FOUNDER OF ISLAM

Abdul Qasim Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd Muttalib ibn Hashim was born around
570 in Mecca. Since his father Abdullah died before he was born and his mother died when he
was six years old, he lived with his grand father until the death of the latter when he was
entrusted to his uncle Abu Talib, the father of Ali who was to be one of his first followers. His
foster mother was a Beduin woman called Halima and he must have lived his early years as a
shepherd boy in the hills around Mecca.
He was an Arab of the Quraish tribe and of noble birth. He belonged to the Quraish
branch of the Banu Hashim. His grandfather, Abd al Muttalib was the custodian of the Ka’ba and
had the charge of apportioning the water of Zamzam. As his patriarch Hashim, Muhammad
became a trader as soon as he was old enough to do so and travelled as far as Syria and Yemen.
There he came into contact with both Jews and Christians. He entered into the service of a rich
widow called Khadijah, who later put him in charge of all her business seeing that he was a wise
and successful trader. The two ended up getting married. He was about twenty-five and she was
about forty years of age. The marriage was a happy one and lasted for twenty years. So he lived a
prosperous and peaceful life until he began to preach.
In 610, Muhammad began to withdraw into the mountains near Mecca to meditate and
pray. Tradition has it that one day, on Mount Hira, a luminous being (the angel Jibril) grasped

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him by the throat, called him “the Messenger of God” (rasul Allah) and ordered him to repeat
the sacred words:

“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Recite in the Name of your Lord who created man from clots of blood! Recite! Your
Lord is the most bountiful One, who by the pen taught man what he did not know”.

He wanted to run away, he hesitated to do anything about it for three years during which
he experienced a period of emptiness. His wife Khadija understood what had happened to him
and took him to her first cousin Waraqa bin Nawfal who confirmed that that what he had seen
was the angel of God.
In 613, he began to preach in Mecca about Allah, Lord of the universe, the last
judgement, the resurrection of the dead and God’s blessings for those who would submit to his
will. He called the people to pray, to practice charity and to live responsibly. He spoke of the
great figures of monotheism like Abraham, Moses and Jesus and claimed that his message was
part of the prophetic tradition and that he was the last of the prophets.
According to orthodox Islam, Muhammad was just a vehicle of divine revelation and had
no supernatural quality although it is clear that few people have exercised so deep and lasting
influence on the world as Muhammad.
Islamic literature presents Muhammad as a divine figure as this extract from Shaik
Sharafuddin Maneri shows:
“A hundred thousand thanks, blessings and ovations to the soul of the chief of loving
spirits, and the most eminent of all mystics, the prophet Muhammad… If he had not existed,
who would have existed? He was such a prophet, for whom God had ordained a roofless
dwelling place in his immediate vicinities apart from a hundred thousand miracles and a hundred
thousand signs of divine favour, completely unknown to any angel, prophet or saint. He built the
tent of His glory in the desert of the existence of this world”1.
Husain ibn Mansur al-Hallaj, a mystic and martyr of Islam traces his existence in
eternity:
“He is and was, and was known before the things, existents and beings were created. He
was and is still remembered as first of the “first” and last after the last, and before essences and
concrete qualities were. His essence is entirely light, his word is prophecy, his knowledge comes
from heaven, and the form of his expression is the Arabic language. His tribe is neither of the
East nor of the West, his genealogy is the one of the patriarchs, he is called “the illiterate
summa”.
The eyes are opened thanks to his signs. God raised him to the level of transmitting His
Word, and confirmed him as the Proof. It was God who sent him ahead. He is at the same time
the Proof and the testimony of the Proof. He is the one who quenches the heart with a strong
thirst. He is the one who carries the uncreated Word, uncontaminated by whatever touches it..”2.
While orthodox Islam denies Muhammad any role as mediator, Abd al-Aziz al-Dirini
describes him as follows:
“Adam knew him and raised prayers through him, and Muhammad made a pact with all
the prophets, which preceded him. He took the purity of Adam, the lamentation of Noe. One part
of his teaching comes from the doctrine of Idris. The anguish of Jacob is included in his ecstatic

1
Shaik Sharafuddin Maneri, The Hundred Letters, Classics of Western Spirituality, London 1980, p.9
2
Husain ibn Mansur al-Hallag, The Tawasin of Mansur al-Hallaj, London, 1974, p. 24.

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experiences. In the mystery of his ecstasy is the patience of Job. Closed in his breast is the cry of
David. Only one part of the riches of his soul is more than the riches of Solomon. He
accommodates in his soul the friendship of Abraham and God, and is more exalted than the most
powerful kings. He surpasses the prophets the way the sun surpasses the moon and the way the
ocean surpasses a drop”3.
One of the traditional authorities of Islam, al Sayuti, describes as follows Muhammad’s
encounter with God in the Night of Ascension (laylat al-mi’raj), called the Journey to the Devine
Proximity:
“ I said: ‘ O Lord, Thou didst take Abraham as a friend, Thou didst speak with Moses
face to face, Thou didst raise Enoch the high place, Thou didst give Solomon a kingdom such as
non after him might attain, and didst give to David Psalter. What then is there for me, O Lord?
He replied: ‘O Muhammad, I take you as a friend just as I took Abraham as a friend. I am
speaking to you face to face just as I spoke face to face with Moses. I am giving you the Fatiha4
and the closing verses of the al- Baqara, both of which are from the treasuries of My Throne and
which I have given to no prophet before you. I am sending you as prophet to the white folk of the
earth and to the black and the red folk, to jinn and to men thereon, though never before you have
I sent a prophet to the whole of them. I am appointing the earth, its dry land and its sea, for you
and for your community as a place for purification and for worship. I am giving your community
the right to booty, which I have given as provision to no community before them. I shall aid you
with such terrors as will make your enemies flee before you while you are still a month’s journey
away. I shall send down to you the Master of all Books and the guardian of them, a Quran, which
We ourselves have parcelled out. I shall exalt your name for you, even to the extent of
conjoining it with My name, so that none of the regulations of My religion ever be mentioned
without you being mentioned along with me”5.

1.1. Muhammad in Mecca and Medina

Muhammad’s preaching was an attack on the system of the mercantile republic of Mecca.
The temple in Mecca had become a place of profitable pilgrimages. His first converts were
Khadija, his wife, his cousin Ali and Abu Bakr who was to be his first Khalifa or Caliph. First,
his preaching was greeted by polemics and mockery and later persecution began. In 615, the
most vulnerable of his followers had to flee to Christian Ethiopia for refuge. Many believers
were killed especially those who had no one to defend them. The most famous of the Muslim
martyrs was Yasir who was killed together with his wife and whose son became apostate under
torture. The other was Bilal, the African slave whose pagan master subjected to terrible
sufferings until he was ransomed by Abu Bakr. Bilal was to become the first muezzin of Islam.
In 619 both Khadija and Abu Talib died. This is remembered by Muslims as the year of
sorrows. This was also the time when the Hashemite clan could no longer protect the prophet,
and so he began to take refuge outside Mecca.

3
Abd al-Aziz al-Dirini quoted by Constance E. Padwick, Muslim Devotions: A Study of Prayer Manuals in Common
use, London, 1961, pp. 170-171.
4
Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds! The Compassionate, the Merciful! King of the day of judgement. Thee
only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help. Guide Thou us on the straight path, the path of those to whom
Thou hast been gracious__.
With whom Thou are not angry and who do not go astray.
5
Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Edit.,), Islamic Spirituality, Foundations, SCM PRESS Ltd., New York 1985, p. 80.

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 Yathrib, as Medina was called, was an oasis where two hostile Arab tribes, the Aws and the
Khazraj lived side by side with two Jewish tribes. In 622, Muhammad’s followers made a pact of
fidelity known as the oath of Aqaba. By now they had began to settle in Yathrib in small groups.
Muhammad had remained in Mecca until he discovered a plot to assassinate him and he escaped
to Yathrib by night. He reached Yathrib on 24 September 622. This was the first Hejira or
emigration. The Muslims recon their era from July 16, 622, when Islam took shape as a religion
and community organisation.
In Yathrib, Muhammad became a political and military leader. He was even chosen as
arbiter between the two warring tribes. Yathrib then became Madinat-al Nabi, the city of the
prophet.
In the charter that was to become the first Islamic constitution, Muhammad, using the
existing Arab customs creating brotherhood, sought to integrate the refugees from Mecca with
the original population. He also sought to win over the Jews assuring them freedom to practice
their own religion and even adopting some of their practices like facing in the direction of
Jerusalem during prayers. The Jews on their part were to accept the civil authority and to
contribute to military expenses. But the Jews did not accept Muhammad as prophet and when
relations between them and the Muslims were strained, Mecca took the place of Jerusalem as
direction during prayers. Islam posed as the representative of the original monotheism, older than
Judaism and Christianity, and symbolised by Abraham and the temple of Mecca.
From Medina the Muslims began to make raids and skirmishes on Meccans but the first
considerable victory of the Muslims was won at Badr in 624. A year after, the Meccans advanced
on Medina, and defeated the Muslims at Ohod. Muhammad himself was wounded. In 627, the
Meccans invaded Medina but Muhammad, having dug a ditch around Medina, did not meet them
in the traditional way. He only made occasional raids on them, a fact that forced them to
disperse.
Through negotiations Muhammad persuaded the Meccans into making a pact with him,
accepting the Muslims to make a pilgrimage. This is called the pact of Hudaibiya. Soon after,
taking advantage of a quarrel between the two main tribes of Mecca, the Muslims advanced on
Mecca and took it without a fight. The people of Mecca accepted Islam and the temple of Mecca,
cleansed of all the idols, changed from a pagan shrine to a Muslim sanctuary.
Between 630 & 631, Muhammad undertook the unification of the Arabian Peninsula hrough
military expeditions. He reorganised the administration, fixed taxes and replaced tribal relations
with religious ones. The Qur’an became the source of law. One of the innovations under this law
was the fixture of the rights of women and the regulation of polygamy. Women were given the
right to own property and to inherit it. The obligations of husbands were also codified.
Mohammed himself remained monogamous as long as Khadija lived but when she died, he
married other women the most famous of whom are: Sawda, Aisha, Zainab, Hafsa and Miriam.
Of his children only Fatima survived and got married to Ali, Muhammad’s companion and first
cousin. Of his grandsons two are known: Hassan and Hussain.
In 632, after a pilgrimage that he himself led instead of Abu Bakr who usually led the
ceremonies, he returned to Medina and died there on June 8th. It is then that Abu Bakr, his first
Caliph or heir made his famous statement to the sorrowing followers: if you are worshippers of
Muhammad, know that Muhammad is dead. If you are worshippers of Allah, know that Allah is
living and does not die. Thus, ended the earthly life of Muhammad, a man of prayer and vision,
an able ruler and tactful military leader, the restorer of monotheism in the Arabian Peninsula and
founder of the Islamic faith and community.

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1.2. The Islamic Community Under Muhammad

The Muslim community was based on equality and governed entirely by the law of the
Qur’an with Muhammad himself as the model for worship, almsgiving, fasting and pilgrimage.
The messages revealed to Muhammad at Medina included legal regulations for matters where
Arab custom was unsatisfactory, such as inheritance, the rights of women and the obligations of
husbands, the avoidance of incest, laws concerning loans, retribution, penalties etc.
The Jews were driven out of the oasis and their clans, which made up half of the population,
were destroyed because of their refusal to accept Muhammad as prophet. The Christians, instead,
were tolerated to such a degree that even when the efforts to make them accept Islam failed, part
of the mosque was set apart for their worship. Muhammad respected them for their monasteries
and for the fact that they were not arrogant.
Muhammad lived in a complex made up of a large courtyard, part of which was protected
against the sun by a scanty roof with a number of openings that corresponded to the number of
the prophet’s wives. This house and the great mosque of Medina were the geographical centre of
Islam and of the Ummah.

1.3. Islamic Expansion after Muhammad

Abu Bakr, the man of the Prophet’s own choice, was the first Caliph. He reigned for two
years (632-634) during which he had to pacify the Arabian Peninsula, which was in utter revolt.
The death in battle of many of the first believers who knew whole passages of the Qur’an by
heart led Umar to advise Abu Bakr to have the Qur’an written down.
The second Caliph was Umar ibn al-Khattab. The decade (634-644) of his rule saw the
Islamic empire extend beyond Arabia. By his assassination in 644, Syria, Jerusalem, Egypt, Iraq,
Persia and part of Armenia had been conquered by Muslim armies. Umar often left the local
government to local officials and did not impose the Arabic language on the people he
conquered. The process of Arabization and islamization was a slow and peaceful one.
Uthman ibn Affan took over from Umar and became the third Caliph. He extended the
empire westwards as far as Tunisia. He ruled until 654 when he was assassinated by fellow
Muslims. He was accused of favouring his own kin. He is famous for having appointed a
committee for fixing the official text of the Qur’an, a copy of which was sent to all the town
garrisons in the conquered lands. This text was named after him.
The last of this group of the first four Caliphs was Ali ibn Abu Talib, cousin and son-in-law
of Muhammad. His wife Fatima, was the only surviving offspring of the Prophet. He ruled from
656 to 661. Two main rivalries disturbed Ali’s rule. One was from a group that had formed
around Aisha. It resulted into the Battle of the Camel in 656, which Ali won. The second one
was between Ali and Muawiya, the governor of Syria, whose father Abu Sufyan had been a bitter
enemy of Islam. It all began with Muawiya’s demand for the punishment of the assassins of
Uthman. Al Siffin, Muawiya’s party engaged Ali’s party in battle in 657 but it was not until 661,
when through diplomacy, Muawiya wooed Ali’s supporters on his side and had Ali assassinated.
Then Muawiya became Caliph ending thus the rule of the first four Caliphs, the companions of
the prophet.
By this time, there was a controversy as to whether the Muslim community had to keep the
simplicity of the first Ummah or to amass wealth coming from the massive plunder that

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accompanied the conquests. It was largely believed that the purity of Islam ended with the rule of
the first four Caliphs. With Muawiya, the centre of the Muslim empire was transferred from
Medina to Damascus in Syria and the Caliphate became hereditary for Muawiya appointed his
son Yazid as his successor. This was the beginning of the Umayyad dynasty named after
Umayya, the pre-Islamic ancestor of Muawiya.
Under the Umayyad caliphs, the Muslim conquests were done in several stages. Byzantium,
the capital of the Byzantine emperor, was first assaulted in 668 but it was not until1453 that it
was captured. The invasion of Tunisia began in 647 and completed in 670; in 711 General Tariq
crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. In 732, the Muslims were defeated at Poitiers less than 200 miles
from Paris. Eastwards, Kabul was captured after centuries of attempts and by the end of 750
Western China had been occupied by the Muslim forces but the present day Pakistan had already
been overrun in 712.
When the Umayyad caliphs were overthrown after 750, they were replaced by the Abbassid
dynasty that took its name from an uncle of Muhammad called Abbas. The centre now moved
from Damascus to Bagdad. The political unity of the Muslim world was coming to its end. Non-
Arab Muslims were putting into question the right of the Arabs to rule over them without any
backing from the Qur’an. The caliphs at this time had no real power and many provinces were
regaining their independencies. Among these were Egypt and Spain where the Umayyad caliphs
were still in control.
By the end of the thirteenth century, Islam had reached Indonesia, which was to contain the
largest Muslim population in the world (more than 130 million) together with India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh. In 1453, Byzantium also known as Constantinople was captured and renamed
Istanbul by the Ottoman Turks. It was from there that their armies were to advance into Europe,
where they had strongholds for four centuries. In the meantime, the re-conquest of Spain, which
had taken 800 years, was being concluded with the fall of Grenada, the last Muslim kingdom in
1492.
The Ottoman Turks advanced on Europe, twice laying siege to Vienna, capital of Austria but
failed to capture it in 1529 and 1683. In Poland and in the Balkans the efforts of nationalistic
movements drove out the Muslims. In the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth
century, with the phenomenon of colonialism, almost the whole of the Muslim world fell under
the rule of Western powers but by 1965 when, either by arms or through negotiations, most of
the Muslim territories had gained their independence.

CHAPTER II
2. THE QUR’AN

The word Qur’an comes from the verb qara’a, to recite. So it is a recitation. This name
refers to the sonoral nature of the text as that which is read and recited. The same Holy Book is
called al Furqan, discernment. Here we have the Qur’an as containing the Islamic doctrine
helping man to distinguish good from evil and truth from falsehood. Al Huda is another name
for the Qur’an; it means Guide and contains the knowledge that a Muslim must acquire in order

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to remain on the right path (al- sirat al-mustaqim). It is also referred to as Umm al-kitab, the
Mother of Books. It is the proto-type of all books, of all that can be known, the archetype of all
things, since the roots of all knowledge are contained in the eternal Qur’an.
The Holy Book is also called dhikr Allah, the remembrance of God. It reminds man of
God’s presence and truth, and to recite it is to remember God. It is both Shahada (creed) and
dhikr Allah (remembrance of God). It comes from God and provides the means and methods of
returning to Him. It is said that the Islamic creed “ la ilaha illa Allah” summarizes the whole
Qur’an for it states the truth, the presence and the unity of God.
The Qur’an contains sacred history according to the Islamic tradition. It speaks of people,
prophets, battles, rebellions, love and death, God’s forgiveness and punishment. It is not very
much preoccupied with merely historical events for it is not a book of history. It is a book of the
life of the soul in that what is found in it is what is found in man and the prophets it speaks of are
the objective and external counter parts and complements of the inner Intellect, which
illuminates the heart of man. To recite the Qur’an is to read one’s own soul, to understand one’s
being and the conditions of the journey that of life at the end of which stand death and Divine
Judgement. It reveals God’s will in man’s destiny and man’s role in preparing his life after death.
It is believed to be like a picture of everything that man can think and feel, and a means by which
God exhausts human disquiet, infusing into the believer silence, serenity and peace.

2.1. Origin, nature and function

According to the Islamic faith, the Qur’an is a perfect revelation from God, a faithful
reproduction of an original engraved on a tablet in heaven, which has existed from all eternity.
This accounts for the veneration of copies of the Qur’an and for the decorations put on their
covers. Those who learn it by heart earn the title of Hafiz.
The angel Gabriel is said to be the one who revealed the Qur’an to Muhammad piece by
piece and on different occasions. It was written first on palm leaves, then on camel bones and on
stones.
After the death of Muhammad, Abu Bakr ordered Zaid, former secretary of the Prophet, to
collect and arrange the writings but the authorized revision of the text was established by the
caliph Uthman who destroyed all other existing versions.
There are alterations and abrogations within the Qur’an: Muhammad originally ordered his
followers to pray towards Jerusalem but when the Jews refused to recognize him as prophet, the
direction of prayer changed to Mecca.
Muhammad had access to Jewish and Christian oral traditions. One of his wives was a
Jewess and the other, a Christian from Ethiopia. This dependence on oral traditions and
heterodox Christianity can be seen in some verses of the Qur’an that look like a
misunderstanding of Christian teaching. In sura 5:77, it is written: They misbelieve who say,
“Verily God is third of the three”. And then, “O Jesus, hast thou said unto mankind: take me and
my mother as two gods beside God?” The Trinity was clearly mistaken as God the Father, Mary
the Mother and Jesus the Son. The Qur’an adds: God neither begets nor is he begotten.
Another sign of influence by Jewish and heterodox Christianity is the Qur’an’s denial of the
crucifixion of Jesus. It states that they crucified the likeness of Jesus and that they never slew
him.
The Qur’an is the source of all Islamic doctrine. All schools of theology, philosophy, law
and political theory are based on the tenets of the Qur’an. All Islamic law (shariah) comes from

9
the Qur’an although consensus (ijma), analogical reasoning (qiyas) and Hadith can be also
source of law since they are in principle contained in the Qur’an.
All ethical norms and moral principles are determined by the Qur’an. The Qur’an is believed
to constitute morality and not what human reasoning determines in its own judgements.
The Holy Book is also the source of art, which came to be referred to as the “second
revelation” of Islam. The rhythm of the soul of a Muslim, his predilection for “abstract”
expression of the truth, the constant awareness of the archetypal world as the source of all earthly
forms, and the consciousness of the fragility of the world and the permanence of the Spirit have
been brought into being by the Qur’an in the mind and soul of Islamic artists. Islamic art is the
crystallization of the inner reality of the Qur’an and the imprint of this reality on the soul of the
Prophet and, through him, on the soul of Muslims.
In the Qur’an, the name Muhammad appears only four times. From the beginning to the end,
he is called Ar-Rasul (the apostle) or Nabi (the prophet). The fact that the title substitutes almost
completely the name is symbolic. It indicates a personality entirely taken up by the religious
destiny. Of the four times (33:40), only one case has to do with a personal circumstance, the sad
fact that Muhammad had no mail descendants: “Muhammad is not father to any man among
you”. The other three cases (3:144; 47:2; 48:29) insist on the fact that Muhammad is but a mortal
messenger, that he has a short life like his predecessors and that his message is the truth from the
Lord. In the last case, it is also said that his followers, while they are severe with those who do
not accept God, they should be merciful to each other.
Muhammad and the Qur’an belong to each other and together they are inseparable from the
community of faith, to the power and the veneration that they began together. This inseparability
and the impossibility of thinking of one’s existence without the other raise the question of the
eternal character of the Qur’an.

2.2. Sunnah and Hadith

The English word “tradition” has two equivalents in Arabic: one is Hadith, the other is
Sunnah. Hadith is a report, what has been said, while Sunnah is the conduct of the Prophet.
Hadith is what Muhammad said and Sunnah is what he did while Sirah is his life. The whole
program of Islamic spiritual life comes from “the good model”(uswatun hasanah). Hadith,
Sunnah and Sirah go together. The Hadith is the supreme commentary upon the Qur’an and a
treasury of wisdom for walking the path of divine Knowledge. The Sunnah is not only a basis for
the Divine Law but is also the model that whoever wants spiritual realisation must imitate.
The Prophet of Islam is believed to have possessed all the virtues in their fullness. The
way the Prophet spoke, acted, walked, ate, judged, loved, and worshiped are all contained in the
Sunnah. The Sunnah is therefore the continuation of the life of the Prophet for later generations.
The Sunnah is not only concerned with the conduct of the Prophet but also with his physical
appearance. According to the Islamic tradition no human being has and can ever march the
beauty of Muhammad. The following description is witness to that tradition:
“He was neither tall and lanky nor short and stocky, but of medium. His hair was neither
crispy curled nor straight but moderately wavy. He was not overweight, and his face was not
plump. He had a round face. His complexion was white tinged with reddishness. He had big
black eyes with long lashes. His bones were heavy and his shoulders broad. He had soft skin,
with fine hair covering the line from mid chest to navel. The palms of his hands and the soles of

10
his feet were firmly padded. He walked with a firm gait, as if striding downhill. On his back
between his shoulders lay the Seal of Prophethood, for he was the last of the prophets.
He was the most generous of men in feeling, the most truthful in speech, the gentlest in
disposition, and the noblest in lineage. At first encounter people were awestruck by him, but on
close contact they would love him. One who sought to describe him would only say, “Neither
before him nor after him did I ever see the like of him”!
The image of the person of Muhammad is reflected in his names. He is Muhammad, the
most praised one; he is also Ahmad, the most praiseworthy of those who praise God; he is
Wahid, the unique one; he is Mahi, the annihilator of darkness and ignorance; Aqib, the last of
the prophets; Tahir, the pure and clean one; Tayyib, the one who possesses beauty and fragrance;
Sayyid, prince and master of the universe, Rasul, the messenger; Rasul al-Rahaman, messenger
of mercy; Abd Allah, servant of God, Habib Allah, the beloved of God; Safi Allah, the chosen
one of God; Nasir, the victorious helper of men and Mansur, the one who is made triumphant in
this world.
Other names are: Muhyi (vivifier of the dead hearts of men), Munji (who delivers men
from sin), Nur (light), Siraj (the torch that illuminates the path in man’s life), Misbah (the lamp
that contains the light of faith), Huda (the guide to God’s paradise), Dhu quwwah (the possessor
of strength), Dhu hurmah (possessor of sacred reverence), Dhu makanah (possessor of integrity),
Amin (the trustworthy), Sadiq (truthful), Miftah (key to paradise) and Miftah al-rahaman (key to
God’s mercy).
It is clear from the above that no one can be a good Muslim unless he or she appreciates
the physical beauty and the moral qualities of Muhammad. The spiritual journey of the Muslim is
a struggle to draw closer and closer to the Prophet; to love him is to love God and to imitate him
is to do God’s will and to find his mercy.
The Sunnah covers all aspects of human life: praying, eating, greeting, selling, buying,
treating people and animals—all have to be carried out according to the Muhammad model. Here
we have what is called the internal Sunnah, comprising of the qualities of the Prophet and the
external Sunnah comprising of acts based on the way he lived. With these one can attain the al-
fitrah, the primordial perfection.
The Hadith is part of the Sunnah; it is in the form of sayings as the word Hadith
indicates. These sayings were collected and compiles by scholars into canonical collections that
are very important in Islam. The different collections of Hadith, called sahih or sihah in plural,
differ according to the Islamic trend in question. The Hadith is second in importance only to the
Qur’an of which it is the first and most important commentary. It is the prophetic expansion of
the Qur’anic verses.
Apart from dealing with aspects of everyday life and rites and ritual aspects of Islamic
life like the Sunnah, the Hadith deals extensively with metaphysics, cosmology, cosmogony,
anthropology and eschatology. It also deals with theological questions such as the free will and
determinism as well as juridical discussions. Together with the Qur’an, the Sunnah and Hadith
are the main sources of the Divine Law according to the Islamic tradition.
Here is an example of a Hadith: “My servant draws near to Me by means of nothing
dearer to Me than that which I have established as duty for him. And my servant continues
drawing nearer to Me through supererogatory acts until I love him; and when I love him, I
become his ear with which he hears, his eyes with which he sees, his hand with which he grasps,
and his foot with which he walks. And if he asks Me (for something), I give it to him. If indeed
he seeks my help, I help him. (Nawafil).

11
 CHAPTER ІІІ
3.0. ISLAM: RELIGION AND POLITICAL ORGANISATION

3.1. The pillars of Islam

3.1.1. Witness (shahada)

This is the Muslim creed in its shortest form: I bear witness that there is no god but Allah
and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God. It is a witness to the oneness of God and to the
role of Muhammad as his Messenger. It is used by the muezzin for calling the faithful to prayer,
it marks the official entry into Islam, it is recited several times during ritual prayers and
pilgrimages, and at the hour of death.
This witness of the oneness of God has consequences in every day life: it supports a
refusal to submit to authorities that go against the Qur’an and against Islam.
The formula “Allahu akbar”, God is the greatest, God alone is great, expresses the idea of
the Shahada. The Muslim mystics struggle to live out the truth that there is only one God; they
do away with the false gods including the “self” which we so often adore.

3.1.2. Ritual prayers (salat)

The salat is the ritual prayer. Every Muslim who has reached the age of puberty, man or
woman must pray five times a day. Other types of prayers and invocations are called du’a. On
Friday, men must meet at the mosque for the noonday prayer, which includes a sermon called
khotuba. The prayers are said in Arabic and ritual purity must be observed by all. Ablutions are
carried out by those who feel ritually impure and women do not practice ritual prayers during
their menses. For the same reason, Muslims remove their shoes before starting ritual prayers.
This ritual purity comes from the very nature of Allah who is both al-Zahir (the Outward, the
Manifest) and al-Batin (the Inward, the Hidden); the worshipper must also be pure outwardly
and inwardly. He asks God to purify him from the sins he committed with his hands, mouth, feet,
ears etc by washing them.

Prayer purifies the faithful; it contributes to the forgiveness of his/her sins, gives him
strength to do his duty and helps him to be steadfast in trials. The five ritual daily prayers are:
-Al-fajr (dawn prayer)
-Al-zuhr (noonday prayer)
-Al-asr (afternoon prayer)
-Al-maghrib (evening prayer)
-Al-isha (night prayer)

For the prayers in common and sometimes for all ritual prayers, the muezzin announces:
Allahu akbar (four times) followed by the shahada each time repeated twice.
Come to prayer (twice)

12
Come to success (twice)
Allahu akbar (twice)
La illaha illa Allahu (once).

The invocation Allahu akbar is called the invocation of sacralization. It puts the believer in the
sacred state of prayer.
To pray, a Muslim stands on a clean ground or carpet without shoes or wearing clean
shoes. He faces Mecca or the Ka’aba if he is in Mecca or the mihrab in a mosque, and
formulates his intention of reciting particular prayers. Ritual prayers are composed of several
elements called rak’a or inclination.
At the end of each prayer, the believer, still on his knees and sitting on his heels, offers
salutations to right and left, wishing peace to those around him or to his two guardian angels if
he is alone.
Prayer can be presided over by an imam (man at the fore) and this can be whoever has
done a minimum of Qur’anic study. Any male can preside over prayers instead of the imam but a
man can never pray behind a woman. Islam is a lay religion; there are no priests.
There are special prayers on feasts like:
-First of the year: the first day of the first month: commemoration of the Hijra (6229)
-Twelveth day of the third month (rabi al-awwal). This is the birth of Muhammad or mauled an-
nabi.
-Twenty seventh day of the seventh month (rajab). This recalls the Muhammad’s nocturnal
ascension.
-Seventh day of the eighth month (shaban), commemorating the change in the direction of
prayer.
-The month of Ramadan (9th month)-fasting.
-The first day of the 10th month. Breaking the fast (Id al Fitr)
-The 10th day of the 12th month (dhu-l-hijja), (Id al adha), a festival of sacrifices called Tabaski
in West Africa.

3.1.3. Zakat or almsgiving

Zakat literally means “purification” but it came to mean almsgiving. However, this
almsgiving, especially in Islamic countries is not free. It is a kind of tithe meant to support the
poor and those involved in collecting it. It can also be used for public works like digging wells
and building bridges.
The Qur’an promises recompense for almsgiving:
“For they have done good works, sleeping but little in the night time, praying at dawn for God’s
pardon, and sharing their goods with beggars and the destitute” (Q. 51, 16-19).
As for the beneficiaries of the Zakat, the Qur’an says: “Alms shall be used only for those
who are in the way of God, for the ransom of slaves and debtors, and for distribution among the
poor, the destitute, the way farers, those that are employed in collecting alms, and those that are
converted to the faith”. (Q. 9, 60)

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3.1.4. The fast (sawm) of the month of Ramadan

The Qur’an was revealed during the month of Ramadan. Muslims fast as a way of
magnifying God and giving thanks to him for his guidance. To fast is to abstain from food, drink,
sexual intercourse, tobacco etc during daytime. The sick and travellers are exempted from this on
condition that they make up later with as many days as they have missed. Sometimes food given
to the poor is a substitute for fasting but it is better to fast than to replace the fast with
almsgiving.
The hunger experienced during Ramadan reminds the rich of the existence of the poor
and there is a special almsgiving so that at the end of the fast, even the neediest may rejoice at
the festival. There is a special emphasis on self-mastery and the exercise of the will to control
one’s passions, to resist hunger, thirst, the desire to smoke etc. To do this is to transcend the
physical limitations of the individual and imitate the habits of God. The passions are weakened
and the spirit of man gains strength when he tries to obey God’s orders and to restrain himself
from those things prohibited by God.
After sunset there is a festival atmosphere and the meal for breaking the fast is often
characterised by visits from relatives and friends; it fosters brotherhood among Muslims.
In short, Ramadan is a month for the exercise of the will and obedience to God,
thanksgiving for the gift of the Qur’an, the nearness of God, Muslim brotherhood, awareness of
the poor and spiritual purification.

3.1.5. The pilgrimage to Mecca

The great pilgrimage or hajj is obligatory to every free adult male Muslim, once in a
lifetime, provided he has resources for it and for the support of his family during his absence. It
is also obligatory to women who can be escorted. It is based on traditions around Ibrahim,
Ishmail and Hagar.
It consists of ceremonies performed by individuals at Mecca at a particular period of the
year, precisely during the tenth, eleventh and twelfth months of the Muslim year, the twelfth
being the Dhu-l-hijja. The pilgrim goes around the Ka’ba seven times and, after reciting the
prescribed prayer, runs seven times between the sacred pillars called Safa and Marwa.
There is then a gathering in the plain of Arafat with all the eyes turned towards a rocky
height with tents for shelter. A sermon is given there and private prayers are offered especially
for the forgiveness of sins. On return to Mecca sacrifices are carried out at Mina where the ritual
of throwing stones at three pillars representing the devil is done.
The ritual clothing, ihram is obligatory only for males. It is a white loincloth covering the
legs and a sash; neither has seams. The loincloth is held up by a broad leather belt with a pocket
for personal papers and money. The pilgrim also carries a leather bag with a shoulder strap and
puts on open-toed sandals. This attire is a sign of equality before God for all dress alike
irrespective of rank or social status.
Although the visit to the tomb of Muhammad is not required by Muslim law, many
Muslims go to pray at the tomb of their prophet which is in the very first mosque of the Muslim
community where Muhammad spent the last years of his life.
The pilgrimage is a great penitential act, which if performed well, secures the remission
of all former sins. It takes the pilgrim to sources of his faith, makes him feel the force and
brotherhood of Islam, and gives him the title of hajj.

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3.2. The Ummah

The term community designates a form of relationship characterised by a high degree of

personal intimacy, emotional depth, moral commitment, social cohesion and continuity in time.
The Islamic community or Ummah is not founded on race, nationality, locality, occupation,
kinship or special interests. It does not take its name from the name of a founder or event. It is
founded on the will of Allah, obedience to his law and commitment to his cause.

The Qur’an describes the mission of the Islamic community as follows:

“Let there be a community among you, advocating what is good, demanding what is right and
eradicating what is wrong. These are indeed the successful. (3:104). You are indeed the best
community ever raised; you reinforce what is right, fight what is wrong, and believe in Allah”.
(3:110).
The Islamic community is seen as the alert guardian of virtue and the bitter enemy of
vice. What is required of the community is required of every individual member. The identity of
the Islamic community centres on the principles of consistent balance, exemplary conduct, unity
of purpose, reciprocity of feelings, solidarity, and equity.
In order to ensure the continuity of the community, there are rules of marriage and
inheritance, the duties of zakat and hajj, the mutual rights and obligation of kin and social
belonging.
The political life of the Ummah is inspired by the Qur’an. Every individual or group must
be guided by the Divine Law, the Qur’an, and the constitution chosen by God for his servants.
Whoever fails to judge according to the Qur’an is an unbeliever, a wrongdoer, and a rebel.
In the Islamic State, the sovereign is God; it is neither the ruler nor the people. The
people as a whole exercise power by trust from God to enforce His Law and enact His will. The
ruler is only an acting executive chosen by the people to serve them according to the Law of
God.
The aim of the Islamic community is to administer justice, provide security and
protection to all citizens regardless of their colour, race or creed, as long as they are law-abiding
citizens.
The Islamic State cannot be controlled by any non-Islamic political party or be subjected
to foreign powers. It has to be independent and free to exercise its due authority on behalf of God
and His cause. It is therefore incompatible with Islam, for a Muslim nation to pledge support to
any non-Islamic political party or to yield to any non-Islamic government of alien origin or aims.
The rulers and administrators are chosen by the people on the basis of personal merit and
virtue, fitness and competence. If the administration betrays the trust of God and the public, it
must be ousted and replaced by another. The question of hereditary power or lifetime
government is inapplicable to an Islamic State.
As for non-Muslims who live in Islamic States, the Qur’an has this to say: “God forbids
you not, with regard to those who do not fight you for your faith nor drive you out of your
homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them. God loves those who are just”. (60:89).

3.2. The Shariah Law

15
 The word Sharia originally means “the way to the watering place but as applied to God’s
law, it means “the path to God’s commandments”. It is God’s law as an ideal; it is what is
contained within revelation, associated with God and truth. It thus inspires loyalty and
commitment.
The Shariah is firmly derived from the Qur’an, the Sunnah, the ijma (consensus) and the
qiyas or analogical deductions from the three sources above. Some scholars believe firmly that
the raw material for the Shariah was provided by pre-Islamic law and the administrative practices
of early Islam.
The Shariah has been codified into five categories:
a) What God has commanded
b) What God has recommended but not made strictly obligatory
c) What God has left legally indifferent
d) What God has deprecated but not actually prohibited
e) What God has expressly prohibited

The Sharia embraces all human activity: eating, hospitality, buying, selling, hygiene, prayer,
etc. There are punishments commanded by the Sharia: cutting off the hands and feet of a thief,
stoning an adulteress, and flogging men found in possession of alcohol or guilty of fornication
etc. These punishments are outdated in many Islamic countries except in Iran, Sudan,
Afghanistan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, and recently, in some states of Nigeria. For
Muslims, the observance of the Shariah is an act of worship in praise to God’s will.
Strictly speaking, the Shariah cannot be written. It is God’s law even when its details are not
known. The human activity of exploration, interpretation, analysis and presentation of God’s law
is called fiqh and those who practice it are called fuqaha.
There are two main types of fiqh:
a) Furu al-fiqh or branches are concepts and rules that relate to conduct, and the arguments
about them. They cover purity, prayer, fasting, alms, pilgrimage, and such topics as
warfare, marriage, divorce, inheritance, penalties, buying, selling, judicial practices etc.
b) Usul al-fiqh or roots or principles identify the divinely revealed sources of law, e.g.
consensus or ijma. The application of logic to revelation called analogy or qiyas is not
accepted by the Shi’ite tradition as a systematic means of developing the law but the
same tradition shows a corresponding complexity in the application of other types of
rational arguments. It accepts, for example, the ijtihad, which is the effort to discover a
particular item of the law through the application of hermeneutic rules.

3.3. The main branches of Islam

3.3.1. Sunnism

Sunni Muslims make up more than 80% of the Muslim population all over the world. As
their name suggests, they are traditionalists. They emphasize the teachings of the Qur’an and the
Sunnah, the practices of Muhammad along with the collective judgement of the sahabah, or
companions of the Prophet, as authoritative sources of Islamic legislation. They follow the
Hadith and the Sunnah.
The Sunnis are of the opinion that Divine Wisdom ordained that the Prophet’s male
children die in their infancy while he lived so that the question of succession may remain open,

16
leaving to the Ummah the choice of its leader. Sunnis then adhere to principles rather than
personalities. The right to choose the Khalifah belongs to the Ummah; this is why after the death
of Muhammad both Ansars and Muhajirun met at Saqifa Banu Sa’idah and elected Abu Bakr as
Khalifah Rasul Allah. The emphasis was on ‘ijma and once it was reached, the people offered
their bayah or oath of allegiance to the elected Caliph. The Caliph too had to take ‘ahd, covenant
or solemn promise to rule according to the Qur’an and the Sunnah. There is no ismah or
inerrancy attached to the office of Caliph. The first four Caliphs, even if they are called rashidun,
rightly guided, ismah is not attributed to them.
Sunnis offer five daily prayers, give zakat, fast during Ramadan and perform the hajj, if
possible. They attach great importance to salat al-jum’ah (Friday Prayer), offered in
congregation after midday. This prayer is wajib, (obligatory) for all male adults.
They all believe, like all other Muslims in the seven articles of faith:
1) The oneness of God
2) The angels
3) The Sacred Scriptures
4) The messengers of God
5) The Last Day
6) Destiny coming from God—good or bad
7) The resurrection of the dead. They also believe that on the last day, no one except the
Prophet, with God’s permission will be able to intercede on any one’s behalf. No imam, no
Khalifah, no wali (saint) will have any power of intercession.

3.3.2. Twelve-Imam Shi’ism (ithna ‘ashariyya)

This is the second largest single denomination of Muslims. They believe in the Prophet
and in the twelve imams who were in the company of the Prophet and who belonged to his
family. The twelve imams are the only authoritative interpreters of the Qur’an and the Sunnah.
The word Shi’ah means party or followers.
The twelve imams are:
Ali bin Talib
Al-Hasan bin Ali
Al-Husayn bin Ali
Ali bin Al-Husayn
Ali bin Al-Husayn, Zayn al Bidin
Muhammad al Baqir
Jafar al-Sadiq
Musa al-Kazim
Ali al-Rida
Muhammad Jawal al-Taqi
Al-Hasan al-Askari
Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Qa’im al-Hujjah
This last imam is believed to have entered into occultation in 329/940. The imams are all
descendants of Muhammad through his daughter Fatima, whose husband was Ali, the cousin and
companion of Muhammad. The latter is also the first imam. Al-Husayn and al-Hasan were
brought up by Muhammad himself; they were the second and the third Imams. The Imamate

17
continued until Muhammad al- Mahdi who, by God’s command, went into occultation in order to
guide the community of believers until the day of the resurrection.
According to the Shiites, the belief in some families as guardians of the truth is backed up
by the Qur’an. Right from the time of Adam up to Muhammad, God was favouring some
families whose line links up u to the last Prophet and his descendants.
To the unity of God (tawhid), the prophecy (nabuwwah) and the resurrection (ma’ad)
believed in by all Muslims, the Shiites add God’s justice and the Imamate.
The word imam means leader or guide but in shi’ism it means one who is ordained by
God to continue Divine Guidance after the prophecy has come to end. The imams are thus called
awliya Allah, the friends of God or those who are nearest to God.
The Imamate is based on two principles: nass and ‘ilm. Nass is a prerogative bestowed
on an individual by God upon a chosen person from the family of the Prophet. It is transferred to
another by an explicit designation. ‘Ilm is the special knowledge of religion possessed by the
Imam alone. It can only be passed on by the Imam before his death to the following Imam. The
Imam of the time becomes the exclusive and authoritative source of knowledge in religious
matters without whose guidance anyone can keep to the right path.
The Imam has the following functions:
1) To explain what has been revealed through the Qur’an and has been taught by
Muhammad, and to interpret the Divine Law (shariah)
2) To be a spiritual guide to lead men to an understanding of the inner meaning of things.
3) To rule the over the Ummah if the circumstances of the time allow him to do so.
The imamate is a covenant between God and mankind, and every Muslim must recognise the
Imam. The Imams are the proof of God on earth. Their words are words of God; their commands
are commands of God for in all their decisions they are inspired by God. They are therefore
infallible and sinless, and obedience to them is obedience to God. They are possessed by the
power of miracles and of irrefutable argument. There must always be an Imam in the world,
present or hidden as the Mahdi is now.
There are seven obligatory duties for every Shiite Muslim:
1) Praying five times a day
2) Fasting during the month of Ramadan
3) Making Pilgrimage to Mecca
4) Giving alms amounting to one tenth of certain commodities to the poor
5) Khums or one fifth of one’s yearly income to be paid to the prerogative of the Imam of
the time.
6) Jihad, the holy war
7) Exhorting others to do good and forbidding them to do evil.

The jihad is common to Shi’ism and Sunnism although it is interpreted differently. For the
Shiites, when the Imam is not present and there is no special substitute for him, the jihad cannot
take place. A war of defence, however, can be fought when the Ummah is in danger.
The Shiites also consider as obligatory the commemoration of the martyrdom of Husayn
bin Ali and the pilgrimage to the tomb of the Imams. Husayn bin Ali, grandson of the Prophet
and third Imam of the Shiites was brutally murdered by the forces of Yazid on the 10th of
Muharram 61/860, together with 72 of his relatives and companions at Karbala in Iraq.
His martyrdom set the official seal of Shi’ism. His refusal to pay tribute to Yazid was
interpreted as death for the truth. This martyrdom is commemorated with emotion, mourning,

18
and beating of chests, reciting dirges and elegies and raising the banner of Husayn. It is often the
theme of Shiite poetry.
While the visit of the tomb of the Prophet is only voluntary to Sunnites, it is obligatory to
Shiites. There are shrines in Najaf, Karbala, Mashhad and Samarra in Iraq; the tomb of Imam
Husayn’s sister Zaynab in Syria, and the tomb Of Imam Ali al-Rada’s sister Fatima in Qumm,
Iran. These tombs are centres of pilgrimage to Shiites. While Shiites visit especially the tombs of
the members of the Prophet’s family, Sunnites visit tombs of mystics and people of spiritual
excellence.
As for the sources of the Shariah, the two denominations agree on the Qur’an, Hadith and
Ijma (consensus). The qiyas (analogy) taken as source in Sunnism, is replaced by ‘aql, reason in
Shi’ism. For the Qur’an, the Shiites accept only the interpretation given by the Imams. As for the
Hadith, the Sunnis restrict it to the sayings of the Prophet while the Shiites extend it to the
traditions of the Imams. In Shi’ism, ijma means consensus of religious scholars.
Another distinctive mark of Shi’ism is the question of the personal endeavour (ijtihad) of
a religious scholar (mujtahid) to solve a given problem by resorting to the original sources. In
Sunnism ijtihad stopped with the great Mujtahids like: Abu Hanifah (2nd cent.), Malik ibn Anas,
Ahmad ibn Hanibal (3rd/9th) centuries of Islam. For the Shiites, it is always open. In every
generation there are Mujtahids who resort to the original sources and find answers to given
questions according to the situation of the time. The Mujtahids are representatives of the hidden
Imam, the Mahdi, and in matters of Shariah, they should be followed. The centres of learning
that produce such Mujtahids are Najaf, the holy city in Iraq and the city of Qumm in Iran.

CHAPTER ІV
4.0. THE ISLAMIC THOUGHT

As early as the first century of Islam, In Syria and Iraq, there were debates on relations
between faith and work, faith and reason, who could be saved, the nature of the Qur’an, the
legitimacy of political authority, etc. Moreover, other religions had already developed
theological arguments to justify their beliefs. The confrontation between Islam and other
religions pushed Muslim scholars into developing a rational edifice for the defence of their faith
and to form schools of Kalam (theology).
The diversity of groups that were incorporated into the Islamic community also
necessitated a clear definition of the creed to prevent various kinds of error. Among such creeds
thus formed are Fiqh al-akbar (The Great Knowledge) and Wasiyya (Testament) based on the
teachings of Imam Abu Hanifa (d.150/767), founder of one of the major Sunni schools of law.

19
These works emphasise the unity of God and His power over human life and the importance of
gaining the knowledge of God.

4.1. Theology and Philosophy

In the Islamic intellectual world, three terms are worthy of special attention: al-ma’rifah
or al-‘irfan (gnosis), falsafah (philosophy) which later became al-hikmat al-ilahiyya
(theosophy) and kalam (theology).
‘Ali ibn Abi Talib is believed to be the founder of Kalam. His Nahj al- balagh (Path of
Eloquence) contains the first proofs of the unity of God following the Qur’an and the Hadith.
Kalam literary means “word” but it is in fact the science that bears the responsibility of solidly
establishing religious beliefs by giving proofs and dispelling doubts.
The first systematic school of Kalam, the Mu’tazilites was founded by Wasil ibn ‘Ata’ (d.
131/748), a student of Hasan al Basr, a famous scholar of Hadith and Sufism. Having separated
from his master, Wasil ibn ‘Ata’ established his own school in Basra. For over a century, the
Mu’tazilites dominated the theological scene in Iraq. They emphasised the use of reason and the
importance of human free will.
The basic teaching of the Mu’tazalites can be summarized in their famous al-usul al-
khamsah (the five principles): unity (al-tawhid), justice (al-‘adl), promise and threat (al- wa’d
wa’l wa’id), in-between position in relation to a Muslim who commits sin (al- manzilah bayn al-
manzilatayn), and exhorting to perform the good and forbidding to commit evil (al-amr bi’l-
mar’ruf wa l-nahy ‘an al munkar).
The Mu’tazilites wanted to avoid all possible anthropomorphism as far as God is
concerned and claimed that man cannot understand the meaning of such divine attributes as
hearing and seeing for such attributes have no reality of their own; they are rather identical with
the Divine essence. They also denied the eternity of the Qur’an as word of God and the
possibility of the knowledge of God’s nature. This view, together with the fact of holding a
transcendental view of God that almost reduced him to an abstract ideal put the Mu’tazilites at
the centre of socio-political conflicts.
For the Mu’tazilites, justice meant that God, being All-Wise, must have a purpose in the
creation of the universe and that there is objective justice and good and evil in God’s creation
even if one puts aside the God’s law concerning good and evil. Because God is good and just and
cannot go against His nature, He must always act for the best and the just. As for evil, it is willed
by God, it is created by the human being endowed with God-given freedom to act in either a
good or evil manner. Man is therefore responsible for his actions and will be rewarded or
punished accordingly.
The “Promise and Threat” refers to believers (mu’minun), nominal Muslims who have
committed sin (fasiqun) and unbelievers (kuffar). Sinners and unbelievers are destined to the
fire of hell. Faith (iman) is not only the assertion of the unity of God and consent to the truth of
religion with the heart. It is also avoidance of any grievous sins.
In their “in between position for sinners”, the Mu’tazilites asserted that the Muslim sinner
(fasiq) occupies a position between the believer and the unbeliever. He still belongs to the
Ummah although he is destined for hell.
In the fifth principle, the Mu’tazilites emphasized that man must not only exhort others to
do good but he must forbid them to do evil. One must have an active attitude toward the

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establishment of a religious order and a morality that is not simply a matter of private conscience
but involves the Islamic society as a whole.
This school dedicated itself to politico-theological questions and developed a “rational
ethics” which made it very famous. Al Nizzan, one of the Mu’tazilites, is known to have
developed the theory of leap (tafrah) to explain the possibility of motion over a space, which is
infinitely divisible. He also developed the theory of latency and manifestation (kumun wa
buruz) according to which God created everything at once in a state of latency and then,
gradually, various forms from minerals to animals became actualised and manifested.
Another important school of the Islamic thought is Ash‘arism. It takes its name from Abu
Hasan al-Ash‘ari, born in Basra around 260/873 and died around 330/941in Baghdad. He was a
Mu’tazilite until the age of forty when he broke away from this school to return to the authentic
teachings of the Qur’an. He set out to develop a theology that used reason to defend the tenets of
the faith and remained loyal to the revelation.
Ash’arism began as a relation against the “rationalistic” kalam of the Mu’tazilites and the
support it earned from the rulers. It was an appeal to the Muslims to believe without asking
questions. After realising that the reaction against the Mu’tazilites could not go on indefinitely,
its founder sought to reconcile the extreme rationalism of the Mu’tazilites with the traditional
“externalists” who rejected completely the role of reason in faith.
Al-Ash’ari held that the Devine Attributes were real but not like the human ones. He also
claimed that on the Day of Judgement, man could see God but without there being any form of
incarnation (hulul). He believed that the Qur’an was eternal and uncreated but its ink and letters
were created. As for Muslim sinners, Ash’ari believed that they are in God’s hands and can be
forgiven by God or go to hell for a temporary period. About the Prophet’s intercession on
Judgement Day, the Mu’tazilites said that he could not intercede for anybody while the extreme
Shi’ites held that the Prophet and Ali could intercede for Muslims on their own. For Ash’ari, the
Prophet could intercede on behalf of a sinner but with God’s permission.
The Qur’an emphasises both the God’s omnipotence and omniscience without
downplaying the responsibility of man for his actions. Ash’ari, in his voluntarism, emphasises
God’s omnipotence and will obscuring in that way, man’s creative free will. He is accused of
reducing the Divine Nature to the Divine Will; his God is an All-Powerful will and not the
Supreme Reality who is and who wills.
Ash’arism was also concerned with epistemology and cosmology. Abu Bakr al-Baqillan
developed a theory of atomism, which denied any specific nature to the created world and to the
things in it. In his view, all things are composed of atoms (juz’ la yatajazza), which are
themselves without extension. The space is composed of discontinuous points, and time is
composed of discontinuous moments. There is no finite causality. What appears to be cause is
the habit of our mind (‘adah). God is the only cause and it is his will that makes things happen.
Ash’arism is strongly opposed to the Islamic Philosophy that sought to know the cause of things
leading to the Ultimate Cause (Islamic Spirituality II, pp.395-402).
In Shi’ism (Twelfth Imam), the first systematic kalam came about in the 7th/13th century
with the work of Nasr al-Di al-Tusi (+672/1022) entitled Tajrid al-i‘tiqad, The Catharisis of
Doctrines. Apart from confirming the reality of horizontal causality in direct opposition to the
Ash’arite view, Tusi rejects all forms of atomism and asserts that a body can be divided ad
infinitum potentially, only that such a division can never be actualised. He also confirms that the
realities of substances that are free of all potentiality and entanglement with matter are immortal.
These realities include the intellect (al-‘aql), and the human soul (nafs), which for Shi’ite kalam

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is an immortal substance and not a perishable configuration of atoms as in Ash’arism. Ash’arism
does not accept any reality for the soul independent of the body but believes that the soul is
recreated by God at the Day of Judgement along with the resurrection of the body.
After discussing questions of general metaphysics like being, non-being, modes and
grades of being, essence, existence, causality etc, Tusi turns to theology and discusses God,
prophecy, general Islamic doctrines and specifically Shi’ite doctrines concerning the Imam. In
the last sections of his work, he explains both the metaphysical and the theological meaning of
specific Islamic images and symbols. Tusi’s work became the standard text of theology and
remained so for a long time and more than a hundred commentaries came to be written on it.

4.2. Spirituality (Sufism)

The truth and reality of the inner teachings of Islam became crystallised mostly in
Sufism. The word sufi literary means “man of wool” referring either to the woollen white
garments the mystics used to wear or to their purity of spirit. Sufism is the current of Islamic
mysticism that developed between the 7th and the 10th centuries. It is founded on the teachings of
the Qur’an especially about the precariousness of existence, the invitation to continuous prayer
and total abandonment of oneself to God. It can be rightly called the first experience of Islamic
monasticism based on the rejection of the world, retreat, solitude or company of other ascetics,
repentance, spiritual direction, examination of conscience, and search for total union with God
obtained in ecstatic moments sometimes with the help of dances and singing.
Sufism can also be called an inner contemplative approach to the teachings of the Prophet
that seeks to understand the spiritual meaning of the Qur’an and of the laws and norms (Sunnah)
of Muslim culture. Sufis believe that this “path” (tarigah) originated from the Prophet himself
and that the inner spiritual understanding of the law set forth in the Sufi Path is really the closest
to Muhammad’s own. Ibn Abbad (1332-1390), one of the mystics, in his letters of spiritual of
direction, speaks of Sufism as a spirituality that seeks to avoid anthropomorphism and legalism
in favour of an inner path. It does not put emphasis on the outward laws and forms of Islam; it is
an esoteric (inner) path that allows believers to see the spiritual truths behind the exoteric forms
of religion.
Four main factors seem to have sparked off this trend of Islamic spirituality:
1) The mystic tinge in the teachings of the Prophet;
2) Contact with Gnosticism, Neo-Platonism, the mystical writings of Pseudo-Dionysius (500
A.D., a Neo-Platonic Christian author whose writings were very influential during the middle
Ages) and Buddhism;
4) The quest for quietness and inner life following the upheavals after Muhammad’s death;
5) The worldliness and the extravagance of the Caliphs.

The teachings of Sufism can be summed up in five points:

1) The Absolute Being is also Absolute Beauty.

2) Since beauty tends towards manifestation, the Absolute Being developed the phenomenal
world.
3) To reach direct communion with God, the Absolute Being, one should practice the virtue
of poverty, austerity, humility, fortitude and discipline; one should devote oneself to

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 inwardness through withdrawal. Silence, solitariness and self-examination; one should
keep in mind the constant awareness of God through faith and desire.
4) Concentration on the quest for unification is aided by the utterance of certain slogans
like: “Allah is here”.
5) These directions lead the believer through the mystic stages of concentration,
apprehension the oneness of everything, the sudden and unpredictable illumination,
blissful ecstasy, sense of union with the Deity, sense of one’s own nothingness, and the
nothingness beyond nothingness.

The first period of Sufism is reckoned from 750 to 1550 and one of the most famous names is
of a woman named Rabi’a al-Adawiya (717-801). She is remembered for having introduced into
Sufism the vocabulary of love and wine as symbols of the blissful ecstasy of direct mystical
apprehension of God.
In 875 Abu Yazid was executed for exclaiming: How great is my majesty! He introduced
the doctrine of fana’ or annihilation, i.e. the passing away of one’s consciousness in a state of
union with God, which has played a significant role in Sufi thought.
In 922, al-Hussayn ibn Mansur al Hallaj was executed for having exclaimed: I am the
Truth! He had experienced an intense sense of unification with Allah.
In this same period, convents were established here and there in the Islamic world, the
earliest being at Ramleh, South East of Tel Aviv in 775. Some members of these convents lived
outside the convents with their families for celibacy was not obligatory.
The second period (1050-1450) is marked by the teaching of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
(1058-1111), which dealt with the apparent blasphemy of identification with Allah. He fused
mysticism with traditionalism by de-emphasizing the pantheistic aspects of Sufism. He
emphasized the attainment of the Divine Presence, the contemplation of the Divine Majesty and
Beauty, and that to be a Sufi is to abide continuously in God and to live at peace with men.
Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) crystallized the idea of the universal man similar to the Western
logos. The universal man is the archetype of the universe (as a macrocosm) and of man; he
contains the Platonic essences and serves as model to which men can strive to conform. Jalal ad-
Din Rumi (1207-1273) expounded illustrated the doctrines of pantheism and transmigration. He
also instituted the devotional dances aimed at remembering one’s inner self, God, and the
identity of the two, in a state of ecstatic trance and exaltation.
During the modern period (1450-1850) Nur ad-Din Jami (1414-1492) of Persia taught
that union with God can only be achieved by realizing the delusion of the self as well as the
phenomenal world with its vanities. Legends of Sufi saints were in abundance; charms and
amulets were very much in use especially in Egypt.
The contemporary period began in 1850. Muhammad Amin al-Kurdi al- Shafi’i al-
Naqshabandi of Iraq (d.1914) prepared a manual of mystic instructions in Arabic as to how to
reach the mystic unification with God. An extract from this manual goes as follows: “Be seated,
close your eyes, make your humility perfect, imagine that you are dead and the mourners
departed, leaving you alone to face Judgement; concentrate all your senses; expel preoccupations
and the wayward impulses of the heart, and direct your perception towards God”.
For Sufism, God is the absolute good, the pure being, the eternal beauty, the unique and
true reality while the world of phenomena is only a reflection of divinity, it is pure non-being, it
is a phantasm. The goal of Sufism is annihilation in God.

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 CHAPTER V
5. ISLAM TODAY

5.1. Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa

The penetration of Islam in Africa began with the occupation of North Africa as early as
640, followed by the conquest of the Sahara. With the occupation of Niger, East and West Sudan
the Eastern and Western coastal areas were conquered. The Hausa were among the first Sub-
Saharan people to be converted to Islam. They were joined by the Fullah people in about 1750
and together they founded a large and powerful Islamic state. The 18th and 19th centuries saw
Islam spread gradually south of the Sahara sometimes by violence and sometimes through
peaceful settlements of Muslims and trade links with them.
It should be noted that after the conquest of Egypt, the interior of Africa remained closed
to Islam for many centuries. The three Christian kingdoms of Nubia- Nobatia, Makurria and
Alwa offered tough resistance to islamisation. In 651, the Arab expedition that went as far as
Dongola, the capital of Makuria, only managed to impose on the Nubians a tribute in slaves, but
guaranteeing them their autonomy and the free exercise of their Christian religion. The Nubian
resistance, however, began to wear out six centuries later due to political divisions and being cut
off from the rest of the Christian world. Towards the end of the 12th Century, the breach of the
link between the Nubian Church and its guarantor, the Patriach of Alexandria and the decline of
the numerous monasteries, starved the Nubian Church to death by lack of Bishops and priests.
In 1317, Dongola was captured and two centuries later, Alwa, in 1515, fell to the
Muslims. Ethiopia would have fallen too if the Portuguese had not intervened in 1543. Little by
little, Christian Ethiopia managed to push the Muslim threat from the Ethiopian plateau. With the
fall of the three kingdoms, Arab tribes were able to sweep westwards across the Kordofan and
the Darfur towards Lake Chad where the people had already been islamised.
On the East African coast Arabs from Yemeni created settlements right from the earliest
days of Islam and founded Mogadishu, Kilwa, Mombasa, Pate, Malindi and Zanzibar. Together
with the Swahili and allied tribes they carried out slave trade from the interior of Africa through
coastal centres. They created independent sultanates and centres in Tanganyika, the Comores
islands, in the present Democratic Republic of Congo (Maniema) and as far south as Madagascar
and their influence went as far as the Kabaka’s kingdom of Buganda (Uganda).

5.1. Islam in Malawi

In 1530, Arabs from Tete (Mozambique) and Zambezi began to trade with the interior of
what is now Malawi. The clans of the Amwenye in Malawi and the Varenda in Zimbabwe have
names and practices that show an ancient contact with Islam. They practice circumcision,
observe food taboos similar to those in Islam and their names sound Arabic.
From early 19th century, with the flourishing of the Oman dynasty in Zanzibar, Swahili
traders penetrated the interior of Eastern Africa looking for slaves and ivory. With trade routes

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connecting the interior with the coast that had been islamised, the Islamic influence began among
the people of the interior.
The first centre of Islam was founded on the lakeshore town of Nkhotakota in the centre
region by Salim bin Abdullah, a trader in slaves and ivory in 1840. Having established villages
under the control of his own headmen, he overthrew Mulenga, the local chief and the paramount
chief Kanyenda, and established the sultanate and the dynasty of the Jumbes of Nkhotakota.
The Jumbes, all of whom were Muslims, established an important centre in Nkhotakota
with trade links to the coast. While the ordinary Chewa villagers kept their traditional religion,
the chiefs used to send their sons to the coast to be educated and many of them were converted to
Islam. By the time the forth Jumbe was deposed by the British in 1895, most of the chiefs and
their people had been converted to Isalm.
In 1880, another important trading post was established near Karonga by Mlozi bin
Kazbadema, a Swahili Muslim at the northern end of Lake Malawi. The British killed him in
1895 but the community he established remains Muslim to this day.
In about 1870, Makanjira III, a Yao chief at the Southern end of Lake Malawi, converted
to Islam followed by Jalasi and Mponda, his equally powerful neighbours. They converted to
Islam in order to strengthen their trade and power but the influence of the Swahili who worked
for them as scribes and advisers also played an important role.
In 1866, David Livingston had visited the land of the Yao and had noticed the presence
of both slave trade and Islamic culture. He wanted to establish legitimate trade and a Christian
culture. This caused a rivalry between the European missionaries and the Yao chiefs who saw
them as invaders.
In 1891, the Yao chiefs resisted the efforts of Sir Harry Johnston to establish a
Protectorate over them but despite their defeat in 1895 Islam continued to flourish among the
Yao. The role of the chiefs in the traditional initiation ceremonies and the inclusion of some
Islamic elements into them helped to keep Islam alive. The Lupanda ceremony that later became
jando, marked the entrance into Yao adulthood and Islam. This is how being Yao and being
Muslim became synonymous.
By 1910 the jando included instruction in prayer and other Islamic duties. Nevertheless,
the Yao and Chewa, both matrilineal tribes, did not abandon their traditional practices totally; as
far as coming of age, marriage and death are concerned, they followed Islamic practices only
when they were in harmony with their traditional customs.
Worthy of special mention is the Yao custom of occasionally offering sacrifice to their
ancestral spirits accompanied by singing and dancing. The Yao Muslims still carry on this
practice under the name sadaka; the dead are remembered, a meal is shared between the living
and the dead in the presence of the sheikh or mu’allim.
Islam in Malawi was strengthened by the coming of the Shadiliya and the Qadiriya
Muslim brotherhoods via Zanzibar. By the 1930s, most sheikhs were members of one of these
two. They brought enthusiasm and energy into Malawian Islam and introduced elements of
Sufism in it. The dhikr, called sikiri in Malawi, the remembrance of God by the repetition of his
names and attributes, is accompanied by a rhythmical dance and controlled breathing performed
at siyara or ziyara, weddings, funerals and other Muslim feasts.
Another important factor in the spread of Islam in Malawi was the presence of Asian
Muslims who settled as traders in all towns and trading centres throughout the country. They
came at the same time as British colonialism. Although they remained socially separated from
Malawian Muslims, they provided them with jobs and helped them in their religious endeavours.

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The Malawian Muslims, by moving together with their trade masters and settling in all parts of
the country helped to spread Islam beyond its regions of origin. By 1930, Islam was well
established in Malawi.

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