The chief victors in the intero-Islamic skirmishes took shape in sharp contrast to what Muhammad had envisioned. The sporadic revelations that came to Muhammad were recounted orally, addressing injustices in Arabian society, such as the distribution of wealth among the Quraysh. (266). I want to write two reviews for this book. Belief in the existence of God (or gods) is definitional of theism and characteristic of many (though not all) religious traditions. I'm just saying this book is speaking to and from a position so far removed from the Islamic scholarly tradition that I can make no use of it. According to the Islamic statement of witness, or shahada, "There is no god but Allah". That year, 622 C.E., will forever be known as Year 1 A.H. (After Hijra); and the oasis that for centuries had been called Yathrib will henceforth be celebrated as Medinat an-Nabi: The City of the Prophet, or more simply, Medina., The Shiah believe that salvation requires the intercession of Muhammad, his son-in-law Ali, his grandsons Hasan and Husayn, and the rest of the Prophets legitimate successors, the Imams, who not only serve as humanitys intercessors on the Last Days, but who further function as the eternal executors (wali) of the divine Revelation., The word Imam has multiple connotations. This website generates no revenue, has no banner ads, and does not collect information to sell to third parties. 626 likes, 14 comments - Holistic lifestyle + fitness (@katie.bevington) on Instagram: "I almost lost it today. I also thought it shameful the glancing way he wrote about Sept. 11. Al-Tabari writes that while Muhammads father, Abdallah, was on his way to meet his bride, he was stopped by a strange woman who, seeing a light shining between his eyes, demanded he sleep with her. Whatever truths they convey have little to do with historical fact., In many ways, the partition of India was the inevitable result of three centuries of Britains divide-and-rule policy. In No god but God, internationally acclaimed scholar Reza Aslan explains Islamthe origins and evolution of the faithin all its beauty and complexity. But lately Ive learned that King fought for more than African American rights. Too many instances dispute my current knowledge of the prophets life. So why the four stars? The Islamic Reformation is already here. Does he believe that all religions are equally valid? As a Christian who grew up in a . I am not certain how useful the comparison is for Aslan today, especially with his desire for an Islamically informed, indigenous democracy. From this perspective, Reza Aslan retells the story of Islam. Among the summaries and analysis available for No god but God, there are 1 Short Summary and 7 Book Reviews. Italian Men are in charge of women, because Allah has made some of them excel the others, and because they spend some of their wealth. If you decide to subscribe to our newsletter, it will be a way to stay in touch, without being bothered by frequent emails. He is author of many books, includingEvil and the Evidence for God(Temple University Press, 1995), Faith, Film, and Philosophy: Big Ideas on the Big Screen(InterVarsity Press, forthcoming), andPhilosophy of Religion(Rowman and Littlefield, also forthcoming). He came upon a small federation of villages and an oasis where he wished to settle, a region called Yathrib. This is an online articlefrom the Christian Research Journal. Copyright FreeBookNotes.com 2014-2023. Overall a very good book on Islam. Pre-Islamic Background. No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam is a 2005 non-fiction book written by Iranian-American Muslim scholar Reza Aslan.The book describes the history of Islam and argues for a liberal interpretation of the religion. I dont want to spoil the ending by saying any more than that. Aslan focuses primarily on the practices of early Islam, but also discusses life within the Abbasid Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the modern Muslim world. The front pages of No god But. Nabeel concludes: "There is no God but one, and He is Father, Spirit, and Son. Published last summer, the book serves as an essential resource to at least two groups: Christians who desire to share their faith with Muslims and Muslims interested in investigating the claims of Christianity. Who were the Hypsistarians: Inner life requires attention to the world, How to be happy: Happiness is a choice, not a genetic factor, Believe in yourself: keep pushing, every answer is inside you, Words of wisdom: Epicurus letter on happiness, Temple Mount: the Sacreds space and location for the encounter of realities, In Praise of Folly (Erasmus of Rotterdam), Epiphany: meaning and what people actually celebrate, Who is Satan: Why (sadly) it is important to know the Devil, Eid al-Adha: The remembrance in Islam of Abrahams faith, Sufism: what it is, and who the Sufis really are, Mohammed meaning of Seal of the Prophets, Timeline of Important milestones in Islamic history. He blames Western imperialism and the misinterpretations of Islamic law by past scholars for the current controversies within Islam, questioning the clash of civilizations thesis that peoples cultural and religious identity will be the primary source of world conflict in the post Cold War era. Inshallah. No god but God by Reza Aslan Genre: Certainly, it contains the moral framework for living a holy and righteous life as a Muslim. This timetable reflects Aslans desire to educate non-Muslim Westerners about Islam in the wake of 9/11. But returning home after one of his painfully violent revelatory experiences, or after suffering another indignity from the Qurayshhis head covered in dirt, his tunic defiled with bloodand not having Khadija there to wrap him in her cloak and hold him in her arms until the terror subsided must have been an unimaginable sorrow for the Prophet., Yet lost in the debate about Americas true intentions in the Middle East was the fact that large majorities in every Muslim-majority state surveyed told pollsters they wanted to see their countries move toward greater democracy. The Reformation in Europe was tied to the rise of the power of the nation-state and the end of religion as a political power. His strategy is to document the history of Islam, describe inner tensions within that historical context, and relate the resulting picture to current conditions, in a manner that is neither reckless nor misleading. Howeverand this is the most important aspect of the parablethe linguist can offer the travelers only the grapes and nothing more. Author of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam to speak on campus, God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror, No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, George Gurdjieff: the remembrance of the true self. Abdallah politely refused and continued to the house of Amina, where he consummated the marriage that would result in the birth of the Prophet. He was also an ardent defender of the poor, a great activist in the face of corporate America, indeed a man who aligned himself with all of the weak against all of the powerful. Our Bible study class decided we wanted to learn something about Muslims. . quran/iqra. So in addition to the fixed number of Imams who succeeded Muhammads earthly authority, there must also exist an ever-present or pre-existent Imam who, as the eternal guardian of the Revelation, functions as the Proof of God on Earth. Thus, the first Imam was neither Muhammad nor Ali but Adam., It has often been noted that the biblical stories recounted in the Quran, especially those dealing with Jesus, imply a familiarity with the traditions and narratives of the Christian faith., Indeed, everything that is currently being said about Americas diverse Muslim populationthat they are foreign and exotic and un-Americanwas said about Catholic and Jewish immigrants nearly a century ago., Karima bint Ahmad (d. 1069) and Fatima bint Ali (d. 1087), for example, are regarded as two of the most important transmitters of the Prophets traditions, while Zaynab bint al-Shari (d. 1220) and Daqiqa bint Murshid (d. 1345), both textual scholars, occupied an eminent place in early Islamic scholarship. And they believe that in this very place Abraham was on the point of sacrificing Ishmael, before being stopped by the promise that he too, like his brother Isaac, would beget a great nation, whose descendants now roam the sandy valley of Mecca like a whirlwind in the desert., Religion, it must be understood, is not faith. One wonders what was in those variant editions of the Quran that were burnt. Elsewhere the Quran is more explicit: Permission to fight is given only to those who have been oppressed who have been driven from their homes for saying, God is our Lord (22:39; emphasis added)., This creator God was called Allah, which is not a proper name but a contraction of the word al-ilah, meaning simply the God., There are striking similarities between the Christian and Quranic descriptions of the Apocalypse, the Last Judgment, and the paradise awaiting those who have been saved., But tawhid, which literally means making one, implies more than just monotheism. The linguist is the Sufi, who enlightens humanity to the fact that what it seeks (its religions), though called by different names, are in reality one identical thing. Brenna Clarke Gray, . Email Address: Follow Public awareness of Islam, the worlds fastest-growing religion, has gone from the basement of our consciousness through the roof, and is now somewhere in the stratosphere, but six years hence, this still has not translated into useful knowledge for very many people. The Hanifists were pre-Islamic monotheists who were in some significant sense indigenous to the Arabian peninsula. Men are the support of women [qawwamuna ala an-nisa] as God gives some more means than others, and because they spend of their wealth (to provide for them). ________ Reverend William Spooner was famous for a type of funny verbal mistake that became known as a (n) _____ . A two-page chronology marks key events from the birth of the Prophet Muhammad in 570 up to Al-Qaedas attack on New York and Washington in 2001 (pp. As for women you feel are averse, talk to them suasively; then leave them alone in bed (without molesting them) and go to bed with them (when they are willing). Yet regardless of whether one is labeled a Modernist or a Traditionalist, a reformist or a fundamentalist, a feminist or a, must recognize that greater knowledge about Islam is not enough to alter peoples perceptions of Muslims. By the ninth century, when Islamic law was being fashioned, there were so many false hadith circulating through the community that Muslim legal scholars somewhat whimsically classified them into two categories: lies told for material gain and lies told for ideological advantage. The final word in the verse, adribuhunna, which Fakhry has rendered as beat them, can equally mean turn away from them, go along with them, and, remarkably, even have consensual intercourse with them. If religion is indeed interpretation, then which meaning one chooses to accept and follow depends on what one is trying to extract from the text: if one views the Quran as empowering women, then Alis; if one looks to the Quran to justify violence against women, then Fakhrys.translators of the Quran.. I felt clouds parting in my brain and was able to comprehend some of the glories of the religion, and the hatred and factionalism, too. The person who brought the conversation together began the discussion by saying atheism doesn't imply nihilism and that she was becoming rather impatient with those who imply such a thing, wagging her finger at theists, saying her life without God has been very happyvery happy, indeed. When fourteen centuries ago Muhammed launched a revolution in Mecca to replace the archaic, rigid, and inequitable strictures of tribal society with a radically new vision of divine morality and social egalitarianism, he tore apart the fabric of traditional Arab society. God is Unity: wholly indivisible, entirely unique, and utterly indefinable. But this is what I call uzum, replied the Turk. Is he a supernaturalist? Perhaps then we will recognize the intimate connections that bind us all together beyond any cultural, ethnic, or religious affiliations. Having converted, he was gradually radicalized. Because of the variability of the Arabic language, both of these translations are grammatically, syntactically, and definitionally correct. Christian Concerns. This book was thoroughly eye-opening. He was not the lifelong monotheist portrayed in traditional Muslim accounts. It was the followers who came after both of them that twisted their message. 320 pages. However, in their earliest stages, the hadith were muddled and totally unregulated, making their authentication almost impossible. The front pages of No god But God include the familiar Muslim acclamation, In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Aslan, however, is a reformist. Language You will learn a lot from No God But God, especially about Islamic cultural practices and their Quaranic (or lack of Quaranic) roots. It is not important whether the stories describing the childhood of Muhammed, Jesus, or David are true. But the real joy is Aslans prose. Those who disobey God and His Messenger, and who try to overstep the boundaries of this [inheritance] law will be thrown into Hell, where they will dwell forever, suffering the most shameful punishment (4:14). No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam (Reza Aslam), Quran Interpretations of the COVID19 Pandemic, The rainbow, a Sign of Peace in the Bible, A must-read book for anyone who is not only interested in learning more about the world of Islam in the past and nowadays, but also for all those who seek the historical truth of facts through the path of the, Each chapter of the book deals with a specific topic within Islam. He doubts the authenticity of the traditional narrative and says only that, we can reasonably conclude that Muhammed was a Meccan and an orphan; that he worked for his uncles caravan from a young age; that this caravan made frequent trips throughout the region and would have encountered Christian, Zoroastrian, and Jewish tribes, all of whom were deeply involved in Arab society; and finally, that he must have been familiar with the religion and ideology of Hanifism, which pervaded Mecca and which very likely set the stage for Muhammeds own movement. This is a welcome tendency in his book.) One could argue that the clash of monotheisms is the inevitable result of monotheism itself. And finally, when the celebrated Quranic commentator Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi (11491209) interpreted the verse [God] created spouses for you of your own kind so that you may have peace of mind through them (3:21) as proof that women were created like animals and plants and other useful things [and not for] worship and carrying the Divine commands . He segues to this chapter with this brief paragraph: Fourteen hundred years of rabid debate over what it means to be a Muslim; of passionate arguments over the interpretation of the Quran and the application of Islamic law; of trying to reconcile a fractured community through appeals to Divine Unity; of tribal feuds, crusades, and world warsand Islam has finally begun its fifteenth century (248). This book explains how this can happen to a sensible young man, and gives cause to worry about Americas universities, many of which have been endowed funds by radical Islamic sects to provide programs in Islamic studies. While both are considered equally valid approaches, the tension between tafsir and tawil is but one of the inevitable consequences of trying to interpret an eternal and uncreated scripture that is nevertheless firmly grounded in a specific historical context., Nor is it surprising that three of the first four leaders of Islam were killed by fellow Muslims, though it is important to recognize that both the rebels who murdered Uthman and the Kharijites who assassinated Ali were, like their spiritual successors among the Jihadists of today, far more concerned with maintaining their personal ideal of Muhammads community than with protecting that community from external enemies.. There is no God but one, and He is Jesus" (349). The phrase qawwamuna ala an-nisa can be understood as watch over, protect, support, attend to, look after, or be in charge of women. Alone we can do so little, yet together we can do much. I found a copy of No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam in my uni's library, and from what I've heard, it's a revisionist take on the origins and codification of Islam that seeks to bridge traditional interpretations of the Qur'an and hadiths with their historical background - almost like a religion-oriented Guns, Gunpowder . ()- ' ' . A religious state of Islamic orientation also most likely would be rife with internal struggles, since there has never been a successful attempt to establish a monolithic interpretation of the meaning and significance of Islamic beliefs and practices (265). Heres an illustration of his outlook: If the childhood stories about Muhammed seem familiar, it is because they function as a prophetic topos: a conventional literary theme that can be found in most mythologies. This is the final station along the Sufi Way. The function of the clergy in an Islamic democracy is not to rule, but to preserve and, more important, to reflect the morality of the state (265). He is the copy of God, in the words of al-Arabis greatest disciple, Abdul Karim al-Jili: he is the mirror in which the divine attributes are perfectly reflected; the medium through which God is made manifest., More than a thousand years before Christ, Zarathustra preached the existence of a heaven and a hell, the idea of a bodily resurrection, the promise of a universal savior who would one day be miraculously born to a young maiden, and the expectation of a final cosmic battle that would take place at the end of time between the angelic forces of good and the demonic forces of evil., It is a shame that this word, myth, which originally signified nothing more than stories of the supernatural, has come to be regarded as synonymous with falsehood, when in fact myths are always true. He valued her and she was his advisor, advocate, lover and friend. And yet, like the United States, these countries are considered democracies, not because they are secular but because they are, at least in theory, dedicated to pluralism., The only question that matters with regard to a religion and its mythology is What do these stories mean?, There is absolutely nothing divine about the Shariah and in no way can it possibly be considered fixed and infallible. After a few generations, almost anything could be given the status of hadith if one simply claimed to trace its transmission back to Muhammad. Read Reza Aslan's biography on RezaAslan.com. A SUMMARY CRITIQUE NO GOD BUT GOD: The Reinterpretation of Islam a book review of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan . It strikes me that all the various factions of Islam that developed (which Aslan over optimistically describes as conveying a wonderful cultural and spiritual diversity, conveniently ignoring the bloodshed), were all striving to arrive at what Mohammad really meant, the real Islam. They present radically different views of God and salvation and only one can be true. In No God But God, Aslan uses the same skilled hand to offer a history not only of the religion of Islam, but how Islam came to be practiced as it is today in all its variety all over the world. This is a major attraction that Christianity has for me. Wherever you turn, there is the face of God says the Quran God is Mighty and Wise (2:115). Muhammad also forbade a husband to touch his wifes dowry, forcing him instead to provide for his family from his own wealth. As the quintessential colonialist, Cromer had no interest in the plight of Muslim women; the veil was, for him, an icon of the backwardness of Islam, and the most visible justification for Europes civilizing mission in the Middle East., Grateful for their generosity, Muhammad orders the land to be leveled, the graves dug up, and the palm trees cut down for timber to build a modest home. certainly are nothing but names, images and forms. The events of 9/11 guaranteed one thingthat the Western world must come to understand Islam. The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam Addeddate 2014-10-19 17:22:37 Identifier RezaAslanNoGodButGod Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t02z43q5n Ocr ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Ppi 300 . His arc of the moral universe would bend towards not only racial justice but justice of all kinds. (Here, as elsewhere, Aslan strays from traditional accounts in the interests of historical accuracy. And for those [women] that you fear might rebel, admonish them and abandon them in their beds and beat them [adribuhunna]. Its the way Aslan teaches on the page that I find so endearing. For example, one chapter is entirely devoted to the controversial, because often misinterpreted, issue of jihad, while others on the Ottoman Empire, the formation of al Qaeda, and so continuing in chronological order up to Osama bin Laden. From the Islamic perspective, however, the attacks on New York and Washington were part of an ongoing clash between those Muslims who strive to reconcile their religious values with the realities of the modern world, and those who react to modernism and reform by revertingsometimes fanaticallyto the fundamentals of their faith., God is, in other words, wholly Other: the Mysterium Tremendum, to borrow Rudolph Ottos famous phrase., The Kaba, like the Pyramids in Egypt or the Temple in Jerusalem, may have been constructed as an axis mundi, sometimes called a navel spot: a sacred space around which the whole of the universe revolves, the link between the earth and the solid dome of heaven., For the Sufi, reality is neither emptiness nor illusion; reality is God., The Spanish philosopher and physician Ibn Rushd (112698), better known as Averros in the West, pushed al-Jabbars conception of truth to its limit by proposing a two truths theory of knowledge in which religion and philosophy are placed in opposition to each other. 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