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"The medieval Islamic world offered vastly more
freedom than any
of its predecessors, its contemporaries and most of its
successors."
Bernard
Lewis1
In the name
of the merciful and compassionate Lord.
0 thou who
art enwrapped!
Rise by
night except a little the half, or deduct there from a little, and
chant the sacred
text.
Verily, we will cast on thee a heavy speech.
Verily,
the early part of the night is stronger in impressions and more upright in
speech!
Verily, thou hast by day a
long employment; but mention the name of thy Lord.
Devote thyself thoroughly to Him; there is
no Allah but He; then take Him for a guardian!
And
endure patiently what they say, and
flee from them with a decorous flight.
And
leave those who say it is a
lie, who are possessed of comfort;
and let them bide for a while.
Those who bear the throne and
those around it celebrate the praise of their Lord,
Believe in Him, and
ask pardon for those who
believe.
'Our Lord, thou dost embrace
all things in mercy and knowledge, then pardon those who
turn repentant and follow thy way, and
guard them from the torment of
hell!'
'Our Lord make them enter into the
Garden of Paradise which
thou hast promised to them,
and to those who do well of their fathers, and their wives, and their seed.
Guard them from evil
deeds, for he whom thou shalt guard from evil deeds on that day, thou wilt
have had mercy on, and that is mighty bliss!
IN the name of the merciful
and compassionate Allah.
By the night when it
veils!
And the day when it is displayed!
And by what
forged male and female!
Verily, your efforts are diverse!
As for him who
tithes
and
stands in awe of Allah,
And believes in
the best,
We will send him
easily to ease!
As for him who is closefisted,
And
longs for wealth,
And
calls the good a lie,
We will
send him easily to
difficulty!
And his wealth
shall not avail him!
Verily,
in the creation of the heavens and the
Earth, and in the succession of
night and day, are signs to
those possessed of minds; who
remember Allah standing and sitting or lying on their sides, and
reflect on the creation of the heavens and the
Earth.
'0 Lord! Thou hast not
forged it all in vain.
We celebrate
you Lord!
610
AD
Archangel Jibril (Gabriel) reveals Islam to
Muhammad.
The first three years of his ministry Muhammad shared Islam
privately among relatives and close acquaintances.
Vehement opposition
arises in Mecca.
615 Muhammad sends emissaries to Aạḥama ibn
Abjar in Abyssinia.
622 Muhammad makes 26 day trek to Medina -
Hijrah.
The Hijrah marks the beginning of the Islamic
calendar
 
The word 'Islam' is defined as the
submission
and/or surrender to
the Will of Allah.
Those that submit to the Will of Allah
abandon the unnatural desires of
Agency.
Apostasy in Islam
Conversion of
Muslims to other religions is forbidden and is considered
apostasy,
a turning of the back to God.
In
Muslim theology, apostasy resembles
the crime of treason,
the betrayal of one's own people and country.
Penalties may include
ostracism or even execution if they live or have lived in an "Islamic State" and are
deemed enemies of the state.
By analogy, in the age of nation states, an individual who
commits treason (turning state's secrets to a foreign power,
or spies for a foreign
power, etc) is subject to severe penalty - historically, death.
A well known example of a Muslim "apostate" undergoing
persecution is that of Salman Rushdie, whose
novel The Satanic Verses
prompted Ayatollah Khomeini to
issue a fatwa (religious opinion) for his execution.
Even though
some suspect that Khomeini issued this fatwa more because of the
lampooning of Khomeini himself it could be argued that Khomeini's
motivation for issuing the
fatwa is irrelevant as Rushdie's apostasy was the formal ground for the
imposition of the death sentence.
"Some of us are righteous, and
some are less than
righteous.
We knew
full well that we can never run away from Allah on Earth.
When we heard the guidance, we believed
therein.
Anyone with faith in Allah will
never fear any injustice, nor any
affliction.
Among us are the submitters, and among us are
the compromisers.
As for
those who submitted, they
are on the right path.
As for the compromisers, they will be fuel
for Gehenna.
If they remain on the correct path, we
will bless them with abundant water.
We will surely test them
all.
He who
disregards Allah, will be
directed to ever increasing retribution."
Qur'an Jinn
72:11-17
Language of
the Qur'an has been described as
"rhymed prose" as it partakes
of both poetry and prose; rhythmic chanted Quranic language.
Cutural excellence
revolved exclusively around eloquent speech and the
composition of beautiful and
attractive poetry with literary excellence.
Muhammad found attentive
ears among contemporaries who
held those skilled in
the arts of linguistic composition in high esteem.
Before the rise
of Islam, Arabic was mainly a spoken language with an oral literature of
elaborate poetry and, to a lesser extent, prose.
Writing had not yet
developed and memorization using the Oral
Tradidtion was the most common
means of preserving the literature.
Prophet Musa had
the power to divide the sea with his hand and
rod, parting the Red Sea, and
all his other signs in a time of magic.
Prophet Īsā ibn
Maryam to cure those who had
been blind from birth and
the
leprous, and all his other signs in a time of medicine.
Prophet Muhammad had the book and his other signs in
a time of
eloquence.
Sharia, Shari-'ah, Shari'a, Shariah,
Syariah,
Islamic law or the Law of Allah
Shariah controls, rules and regulates all public and private
behavior.
Shariah has regulations for personal hygiene, diet, sexual
conduct, and elements of child
rearing.
Mainstream Islam distinguishes
between fiqh, 'understanding of
details' through inferences drawn
by scholars, and sharia, which refers to
the principles that lie behind the
fiqh.
Scholars hope that fiqh and sharia are in harmony in any
given case.
Certain sharia
laws are regarded as divinely ordained, concrete and
timeless for all relevant situations
(the ban against drinking liquor
as an intoxicant).
Sharia also has certain laws which are extracted
based on principles established by Islamic lawyers and judges (Mujtahidun).
In deriving Sharia law, Islamic lawmakers attempt to use
divine principles.
Sharia in general is considered
divine; legal opinion on
a given matter is not.
An Islamic lawyer or judge that attempts to
rule according to Sharia, can be described as 'ruling by Sharia', but this
ruling is not beyond question.
For
Sunni Muslims, the primary
sources of Islamic law are the Qur'an, the Hadith or directions of the Islamic
prophet Muhammad ibn 'Abdullāh, the unanimity of
Muhammad's disciples on a
certain issue (ijma), and Qiyas (drawing analogy from
the essence of divine
principles).
Qiyas - various forms of reasoning,
including by analogy - are used
by the law scholars (Mujtahidun) to
deal with situations with no
concrete rules.
The
consensus of the
community, public
interest, and others were also accepted as secondary sources where the
first four primary sources allow.
In Imami-Shi'i law, the sources of
law (usul al-fiqh) are Qur'an, anecdotes of Muhammad's practices and those of
the 12 Imams, and the
intellect (aql).
Practices called Sharia today have roots in local
customs (Al-urf).
Islamic
jurisprudence is
called fiqh and is divided into two parts: the study of the sources and
methodology (usul al-fiqh - roots of the law) and the practical rules (furu'
al-fiqh - branches of the law).
The authority of Sharia is drawn from
two primary sources, as well as two secondary sources.
The first major
source is the specific guidance in the Qur'an, and the second source is the
Sunnah, literally the 'Way', i.e.
the way that Muhammad ibn
'Abdullāh lived his life.
The compilation of what
Muhammad ibn
'Abdullāh said, did or approved of is called the Hadith.)
A
lesser sources of authority is Qiyas, which is
the extension by analogy of
existing Sharia law to new
situations.
Finally, Sharia law can be
based on ijma, or consensus.
Justification for this final
approach is drawn from the Hadith where Muhammad states; "My nation cannot
agree on an error."
The role
of ulema, i.e. scholars, is critical, since they are the ones who study the
Islamic law and therefore have authority to represent it.
Sharia has
largely been codified by the schools (madhhabs) of Islamic Jurisprudence
(Fiqh).
The comprehensive nature of Sharia law is due to the belief law
must provide all that is necessary for individual spiritual and physical
well-being.
Possible actions of a Muslim are
divided (in principle) into five categories: obligatory, meritorious,
permissible, reprehensible, and forbidden.
Fundamental to the
obligations of every Muslim
are the Five Pillars of Islam.
Sharia is the social equal to English common law,
Roman civil law,
Hindu law,
Laws of the Persians or the Law
of Moses.
There is a striking legal
contractual difference between Sharia law (Islam) versus English
common law and Roman
civil law (Christian).
In both English common law and Roman civil law
lawfully executed and valid contracts can not be revised
without the consent of both parties.
Western
legal systems may give consumers
a legal right to cancel contracts in specific transactions within a short
time after signing the contract without giving the seller a reason or having to
show "legal cause."
"Buyer's Remorse" clauses in consumer contracts are
not universal.
The
trend in Western corporate culture is to eliminate consumer rights.
One method is to write
contracts with arbitration clauses.
Arbitration clauses wave
the right of redress through
the legal system.
Under Sharia law if a party to a contract feels
the contract is unjust he may ask the Sharia law authority to change the terms,
modify or invalidate the contract on the grounds that fairness and justice
under Sharia law requires the equal enrichment of both participants to the
contractual
obligation.
Marriage is intended to be unbounded by time, as
indicated by its characterization as a "firm bond" and by the rules governing
divorce.
Relationship between the
spouses should be based on respect and important decisions concerning both spouses
should be made by mutual consent.
When
marital harmony cannot be attained, the
Quran allows and even advises the spouses to bring the marriage to an end,
although this decision is not to be taken lightly, and
the community is called upon to
intervene by appointing arbiters
from the two families to attempt a reconciliation.
In ancient Islam all it took for either a husband or wife to
divorce was to repeat the phrase "I
divorce thee" three times.
The Quran establishes two means to avoid
hasty divorces.
It prescribes two waiting periods of three months
before the divorce is final in order to give the husband time to reconsider his
decision.
A man who refuses sexual intercourse with his wife, which
leads to automatic divorce, is allowed a four-month period to break his
ridiculous oath.
Crime and Islam Sharia requires a high level of proof for the serious crimes and
punishments.
If proof is not as specified then the crime must be
considered a lesser crime.
A major myth is that judges in
Islamic nations have fixed punishments.
The judge under Sharia is
not bound by precedent,
rules, or
prior decisions.
Hadd crimes, the most serious crimes in Sharia law, are
murder, apostasy, disobedience,
making war upon messengers of
Allah, theft,
adultery,
defamation,
false accusation,
robbery and
consumption of
intoxicants.
These are considered crimes against
Allah.
Tazir crimes are acts of
disobedience to the
Word and
Law of Allah.
Tazir crimes are
crimes against
humanity.
A Qesas crime is one of retaliation.
If you commit a Qesas crime,
the victim has a right to seek
retribution.
The concept of retribution was found in the first
statutory "Code of
Hammurabi" and in the Law of
Moses in the form of "an eye for an eye."
Muslims add to that
saying "but it is better to
forgive."
Contemporary common law is filled with the assumptions of
retribution.
The American justice system has adopted
a retribution model which sets
fixed punishments for each and every infraction of law as a profit center.
The American federal code contains
"mandatory minimum" sentences.
Many states have fixed punishment for
drugs, violence and
use of a
weapon.
Qesas crime = retribution: if one commits a crime he knows
the punishment.
Diya has its roots in Islamic law
and dates to the time of the prophet Mohammad when there were many local
families, tribes and clans.
The prophet Mohammad was able to convince
several tribes to take a monetary payment in retribution for damage to the clan
or tribe.
Diya is paid by the offender to the victim if he is alive.
If the victim is deceased, the money is paid to the victim's family or
to the victim's clan or tribe.
The assumption is that
victims will be compensated for their loss.
Under English common
law, the victim or family must sue
the offender in a civil tort action for damages.
Qesas law combines
the process of criminal and civil hearings into one.
Qesas crimes are
compensated as restitution under common and civil law.
Qesas crimes
require compensation for each crime committed.
Math and Islam
"Mechanical methods can suggest the truth of
mathematical
propositions, which then may be rigorously proven by mathematical
methods."
Archimedes
Decimal
system is dependent upon the Arabic numerical system.
Algebra was first
fully developed by Al Khwarism, the "father of algebra".
Al-Tusi is the
"father of trigonometry".
Al-Khashi, from Persia, invented decimal
fractions.
Sunni Islam is the world's
largest religious denomination, followed by
Catholicism.
Sunni and
Shi'a culminate centuries
of competition between ideologies.
Both used
the other to further
cement their own
identities and doctrines.
The
schism occurred in a debate over who were the true adherents to the Sunnah, the
Prophet's tradition.
A caliphate is a state under the leadership of an
Islamic steward considered to be the successor to Muhammad ibn
'Abdullah.
Sunni rulers
embarked on sweeping conquests that extended the caliphate.
The last
caliphate ended with the fall of the
Ottoman
Empire.
Sunni emphasize the all encompassing power of Allah in the
material world while
Shi'a value martyrdom
and sacrifice to turn the dark into light.
2009 Sunni Muslims constitute 90% of the world's Muslim
population.
The color green has a
number of traditional associations in Islam.
Green is used in several
national flags as a symbol of Islam.
These include:
Afghanistan,
Algeria,
Azerbaijan, Comoros,
Iran, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi
Arabia and Sri Lanka.
1. Lewis was known
for his literary debates with Edward
Said, the Palestinian American literary theorist whose aim was to
deconstruct what he called Orientalist scholarship.
Said asserted that
the field of Orientalism was political intellectualism bent on self-affirmation
rather than objective study, a form of racism, and a tool of imperialist
domination.
"What imperial purpose was served by deciphering the ancient
Egyptian language, for example, and then restoring to the Egyptians knowledge
of and pride in their forgotten, ancient past?" - Bernard Lewis, Islam and
the West
During the Presidency of George W. Bush, he advised
Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Bush himself.
"Methodologically, Lewis
insists that terrorism by individual Muslims should be considered Islamic
terrorism, while terrorism by individual Jews or Christians is never considered
Jewish or Christian terrorism." - As'ad AbuKhalil |
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