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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Islām (Arabic الإسلام,
"submission (to God)")
is a monotheistic faith and the
world's second-largest religion. Followers of Islam, known as Muslims,
believe that God (or,
in Arabic, Allāh) revealed His Will to
Muhammad (c.
570–632) and other prophets, including Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. The Muslims hold that the
main written record of revelation to mankind is the Qur'an.
In Arabic, Islām means "submission" and is described as a
Dīn, meaning "way of life" and/or "religion." Etymologically, it is derived
from the same root as, for example, Salām meaning "peace" (also a
common salutation). The word Muslim is also related to the word
Islām and means "one who surrenders" or "submits" to God, or a "vassal" of God.
Muslims hold that it is essentially the same belief as that of all the
messengers sent by God to mankind since Adam, with the Qur'ān (the
one definitive text of the Muslim faith) codifying the final revelation of God.
Islam sees Judaism and Christianity as derivations
of the teachings of certain of these prophets - notably Abraham - and therefore see them
as fellow Abrahamic religions,
and People of the Book.
Unlike Christianity, Islam has not undergone any period of reformation; however, that
is essentially the goal of various liberal
movements within Islam. Islam has two primary branches of belief, based
largely on a historical disagreement over the succession of authority after
Muhammad's death; these are known as Sunnite and Shi'ite.
Some consider Sufism (mystic Islam) as another
branch of Islamic faith, although many Sufi orders consider themselves to be
Sunni or
Shia; it is
found more or less across the Islamic world, though bearing distinctive regional
variations, from Senegal to Indonesia.
The basis of Muslim belief is found in the shahādatan ("two
statements"):lā ilāhā illā-llāhu; muḥammadur-rasūlu-llāhi — "There is
no god but God; Muhammad is the messenger of God." One needs to recite and
believe these statements in order to become a Muslim. All Muslims agree to this,
although Sunnis further regard this as one of the five pillars of Islam.
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Beliefs
Six Articles of Belief
There are six basic beliefs shared by all Muslims:
- Belief in Allah, the one and only one
worthy of all worship.
- Belief in the Angels.
- Belief in the Books (sent by God).
- Belief in all the Prophets and Messengers (sent
by God).
- Belief in the Day of Judgment (Qiyamah) and in the Resurrection.
- Belief in Fate (Qadar)1
The Muslim creed in English:I believe in Allah; and in His Angels; and in
His Scriptures; and in His Messengers; and in The Final Day; and in Fate, that
Good and Evil are from Allah, and Resurrection after death be Truth.
I testify that there is nothing worthy of worship but Allah; and I testify that Muhammad is His
Messenger.
God
Main article:Allah
The fundamental concept in Islam is the unity of God (tawhid). This monotheism is
absolute, not relative or pluralistic in any sense of the word. God is described
in Sura al-Ikhlas,
(chapter 112) as follows:Say "He is Allah, the one, the Self-Sufficient master.
He never begot, nor was begotten. There is none comparable to Him."
In Arabic, God is called Allah, a contraction of al-ilah or "the
deity". Allāh thus translates to "God" in English; it is not
grammatically a proper name, unlike the Israelite divine name Yahweh or the Christian usage of
Jesus as a personal
divine name. The implicit usage of the definite article in
Allah linguistically indicates the divine unity. In spite of the
different name used for God, Muslims assert that they believe in the same deity
as the Judeo-Christian religions. However, Muslims disagree with the Christian
theology concerning the unity of God (the doctrine of the Trinity and that Jesus is the
eternal Son
of God).
Although no Muslim visual images or depictions exist of God (because artistic
depictions are considered idolatry), Muslims define God
by the many divine attributes mentioned in the Qur'an, also commonly known as the 99 names of
Allah. All but one Surah (chapter) of the Qur'an begins with the phrase "In
the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful". These are consequently the
most important divine attributes in the sense that Muslims repeat them most
frequently during their ritual prayers (called salah in Arabic).
Prophets
Main article:Prophets of
Islam
The Qur'an speaks of God appointing two classes of human servants:messengers
(rasul in Arabic), and prophets (nabi in Arabic and Hebrew).
In general, messengers are the more elevated rank. All prophets are said to have
spoken with divine authority; but only those who have been given a major
revelation or message are called messenger. According to the Hadith, there are
124 thousand messengers sent by Allah to different nations.
Notable messengers include Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, all belonging to a
succession of men guided by God. Muslims generally regard Muhammad as the 'Last
Messenger' or the 'Seal of the Prophets'; however, this is disputed by the Ahmadi movement.
Islam demands that a believer accept all of the prophets, making no distinction
between them. In the Qur'an, twenty five specific
prophets are mentioned.
Islamic law
Main article:Sharia
Muslims in Islamic societies have traditionally viewed Islamic law as
essential to their religious outlook. For Muslims living in secular Western
countries sharia ceases to be relevant as law, but remains a source of
personal ethics (for example, the avoidance of pork and alcohol). The Qur'an is the
foremost source of Islamic jurisprudence; the second
is the Sunnah
(the practices of the Prophet, as narrated in reports of his life). The Sunnah
is not itself a text like the Qur'an, but is extracted by analysis of the Hadith (Arabic for
"report") texts, which contain narrations of the Prophet's sayings, deeds, and
actions of his companions he approved.
One hadith of especial importance for Islamic contractual law should be
mentioned here. A merchant named Hakim ibn Hizam
reported, "I asked the Prophet:O Messenger of Allah! A man comes to me and asks
me to sell him what is not with me, so I sell him and then buy the goods for him
in the market. And the Prophet said:sell not what is not with you." This hadith
has rendered controversial within the Moslem world much of what is considered
routine finance outside of it, including the sale of futures and options, both
of which might be characterizes as the sale of 'what is not with you.'
In recent times, traditional Islamic law has often been questioned by liberal
movements within Islam. In a related development, Mohammad Hashim
Kamali has questioned the reliability and contemporary relevance of the
above quoted hadith of Hakim ibn Hizam.
Religious authority
There is no official authority who decides whether a person is accepted to,
or dismissed from, the community of believers, known as the Ummah ("Family"). Islam is
open to all, regardless of race, age, gender, or previous beliefs. It is enough
to believe in the central beliefs of Islam. This is formally done by reciting
the shahada, the statement of
belief of Islam, without which a person cannot be classed a Muslim. It is enough
to believe and say that you are a Muslim, and behave in a manner befitting a
Muslim to be accepted into the community of Islam.
Islamic eschatology
Main article:Islamic
eschatology
Islamic eschatology is concerned
with the Qiyamah (end of the world) and
the final judgement of humanity. Like Christianity and some sects
of modern Judaism, Islam teaches the
bodily resurrection of the dead,
the fulfillment of a divine plan for creation, and the immortality of the human
soul; the righteous are rewarded with the pleasures of Jannah (Paradise, from
the Hebrew pardes or orchard, also known as the garden of Heaven, from the
Hebrew gan or garden), while the unrighteous are punished in
Jahannam (a fiery Hell, from the Hebrew
ge-hinnom or "valley of Hinnom"; usually rendered in English as Gehenna). A
significant fraction of the Qur'an deals with these beliefs, with many
hadith elaborating on the themes and details.
Other beliefs
Other beliefs include the Angels, the Jinns (a species of invisible
beings), and the existence of magic (which is
strictly forbidden).
The Five Pillars of Islam
The Five Pillars of
Islam2 is the term given to
the five most fundamental aspects of Islam. These five pillars are different in
the Shia and Sunni sects.
For the Sunni
sect, the Five Pillars are the five most important obligations of a Muslim under Sharia law, and
which devout Muslims will perform faithfully, believing them to be essential to
pleasing Allah.
The Five Pillars of the Sunni sect are:
- The Testimony that there is none worthy of worship except God and that Muhammad is
his messenger.
- Establishing of the five daily Prayers (salah).
- The Giving of Zakaah (charity), which is generally 2.5% of the
yearly savings for a rich man working in trade or industry, and 10% or 20% of
the produce for agriculturists. This money or produce is distributed among the
poor.
- Fasting from dawn to dusk in the month of Ramadhaan (sawm).
- The Pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca during the month of
Dhul Hijjah, which is compulsory once in a lifetime for one who has
the ability to do it.
For the Shia
sect, the Five Pillars (uṣūlu-d-dīn), or more correctly translated "the
principles of religion", are the five fundamental principles of Islam; no more,
no less. The Shia sect consider the Sunni five pillars to be merely the most
important obligations rather than these being the Five Pillars of
Islam.
The Five Pillars of the Shia sect are:
- The Oneness of God (tawhīd).
- The Justice of God ('adl).
- Prophethood (nubuwwah).
- The Leadership of Mankind (imamah).
- The Resurrection (me'ad).
The Qur'an
Main article:Qur'an
The Qur'an
is the sacred book of Islam. It has also been called, in English, the Koran and
the Quran. Qur'an is the currently preferred English transliteration of the
Arabic original (قرآن); it means “recitation”.
Muslims believe that the Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by the
Angel Gabriel on numerous occasions between the years 610 and Muhammad's death in 632. In addition to
memorizing his revelations, his followers are said to have written them down on
parchments, stones, bones, sticks, and leaves.
Muslims believe that the version of the Qur'an in use today was compiled by
the third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan,
sometime between 650
and 656. He sent copies
of his version to the various provinces of the new Muslim empire, and directed
that all variant copies be destroyed. However, some skeptics doubt the recorded
oral traditions (hadith) on which the account is
based and will say only that the Qur'an must have been compiled before 750.
There are also numerous traditions, and many conflicting academic theories,
as to the provenance of the verses later assembled into the Qur'an. (This is
covered in greater detail in the article on the Qur'an.) Most Muslims accept the
account recorded in several hadith, which state that Abu Bakr, the first caliph,
ordered Zayd
ibn Thabit to collect and record all the authentic verses of the Qur'an, as
preserved in written form or oral tradition. Zayd's written collection,
privately treasured by Muhammad's widow Hafsa bint Umar, was
used by Uthman and is the basis of today's Qur'an.
Uthman's version organized the revelations, or suras, roughly in order of
length, with the longest suras at the start of the Qur'an and the shortest ones
at the end. Later scholars have struggled to put the suras in chronological
order, and among Muslim commentators at least there is a rough consensus as to
which suras were revealed in Mecca and which at Medina. Some suras (eg
surat Iqra) were
revealed in parts at separate times.
The Qur'an, popularly considered a book whose content has a canonical form,
clearly must relate to the development of Arabic's written form. Consider that
Arabic exist in oral(spoken) form and over time developed its written form. The
Qur'an inevitably standardized Arabic as Islam spread.
Because the Qur'an was first written in the Hijazi,
Mashq,
Ma'il,
and Kufic
scripts, which write consonants only and do not supply the vowels, and because
there were differing oral traditions of recitation, there was some disagreement
as to the correct reading of many verses. Eventually scripts were developed that
used "points" to indicate vowels. For hundreds of years after Uthman's
recension, Muslim scholars argued as to the correct pointing and reading of
Uthman's unpointed official text, (the rasm).
Eventually, most commentators accepted seven variant readings (qira'at)
of the Qur'an as canonical, while agreeing that the differences are minor and do
not greatly affect the meaning of the text.
The form of the Qur'an most used today is the Al-Azhar text of 1923, prepared
by a committee at the prestigious Cairo university of Al-Azhar.
The Qur'an early became a focus of Muslim devotion and eventually a subject
of theological controversy. In the 8th century, the Mu'tazilis
claimed that the Qur'an was created in time and was not eternal. Their
opponents, of various schools, claimed that the Qur'an was eternal and perfect,
existing in heaven before it was revealed to Muhammed. The Mu'tazili position
was supported by caliph Al-Ma'mun. The caliph
persecuted, tortured, and killed the anti-Mu'tazilis, but their belief
eventually triumphed and is held by most Muslims of today. Only reformist or
liberal Muslims are apt to take something approaching the Mu'tazili
position.
Most Muslims regard the Qur'an with extreme veneration, wrapping it in a
clean cloth, keeping it on a high shelf, and washing as for prayers before
reading the Qur'an. Old Qur'ans are not destroyed as wastepaper, but deposited
in Qur'an graveyards. The Qur'an is regarded as an infallible guide to personal
piety and community life, and completely true in its history and science.
From the beginning of the faith, most Muslims believed that the Qur'an was
perfect only as revealed in Arabic. Translations were the result of human effort
and human fallibility, as well as lacking the inspired poetry believers find in
the Qur'an. Translations are therefore only commentaries on the Qur'an, or
"translations of its meaning", not the Qur'an itself.
For further discussion see the main article, Qur'an.
Islamic view of Jews and Christians
Main article:People of the
Book
The Qur'an uses the term People of the Book to
include all monotheists, including Jews, Christians and Muslims. According
to Islam, all nations were given a Messenger and guidance from
Allah.
Islam holds that all Prophets of Judaism and Christianity came with the same
message:there is only one god, and that He is indivisible, all-powerful, and
God of every nation, tribe and people - whether they accepted it or not. Islam
teaches that Judaism and Christianity both worship God - but that that their
holy books, scriptures, and teachings were changed over time and perverted with
doctrines like the trinity (which Islam finds polytheistic), and ideas of any
one people being the chosen people (which Islam considers to be racist).
Yet, Islam is always calling Christians and Jews, as well as others in a
gentle manner, to join Islam and leave behind all forms of polytheism and
changed doctrines and books - towards the worship of One God.
Inclusivistic Thought in Islam
Some Muslims, who believe that people of faith in Islam, Christianity, and
Judaism all serve the same God, cite verses such as the following:
- "Those with Faith, those who are Jews, and the Christians and Sabaeans,
all who have Faith in Allah and the Last Day and act rightly, will have their
reward with their Lord. They will feel no fear and will know no sorrow."
(Surat al-Baqara; 2:62).
- "Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and fair admonition, and argue
with them in the kindest way. Your Lord knows best who is misguided from His
way. And He knows best who are guided." (Surat an-Nahl; 16:125).
- "...You will find the people most affectionate to those who have iman are
those who say, 'We are Christians.' That is because some of them are priests
and monks and because they are not arrogant." (Surat al-Ma'ida; 5:82).
- "Only argue with the People of the Book in the kindest way - except in the
case of those of them who do wrong - saying, 'We have iman in what has been
sent down to us and what was sent down to you. Our God and your God are one
and we submit to Him." (Surat al-'Ankabut; 29:46).
Exclusivistic Thought in Islam
Muslims believe that Judaism and Christianity started out with the same
message as Islam, but that eventually, due to their abandonment of adherence to
strict monotheism, the followers of
Moses earned God's
anger (by worshipping the Golden Calf, mentioned in
the Biblical account of Moses, and later Ezra) and the followers of Jesus
Christ went astray (by worshipping Jesus Christ). It is
popularly held by the vast majority of Muslims that the Holy Tawrat
(revelation given to Moses) and the Holy Injil (revelation given to Jesus
Christ) have been corrupted over time and that the present day Bible and Torah share little or no
resemblance to the original message. According to Islam, Muhammad was sent
during a time of spiritual darkness and once the Qur'an was finally established,
all past revelations were abrogated, making the Last Testament not only for the
Arab nation but for all mankind until the Day of Judgement.
Some parts of the Qur'an attribute differences between Muslims and
non-Muslims to tahref-ma'any, a "corruption of the meaning" of the
words. In this view, the Jewish Bible and Christian New Testament are true, but
the Jews and Christians misunderstood the meaning of their own Scripture, and
thus need the Qur'an to clearly understand the will of God. However, other parts
of the Qur'an make clear that many Jews and Christians used deliberately altered
versions of their scripture, and had altered the word of God. This belief was
developed further in medieval Islamic polemics, and is a mainstream part of both
Sunni and Shi'ite Islam
today. This is known as the doctrine of tahref-lafzy,
"the corruption of the text". Either way the Quran clearly states that the
necessary information which was written in the previous scriptures can also be
found in the Quran:"And We have sent down to you (O Muhammad) the Book
(this Qur’aan) in truth, confirming the Scripture that came before it and
Mohaymin (trustworthy in highness and a witness) over it (old Scriptures). So
judge among them by what Allah has revealed" [al-Maa’idah
5:48]
Historically, Islamic scholars have agreed that the Qur'an gives "People of
the Book" special status, allowing those who live in Muslim lands (called dhimmi—protected people) to
practice their own religions and to own property. People of the Book were not
subject to certain Islamic rules, such as the prohibitions on alcohol and pork.
Under the Islamic state, they were exempt from the draft, but were required to
pay a tax known as jizyah, part of which went to
charity and part to finance churches and synagogues. (They were, however, exempt
from the zakat
required of Muslims.) This agreement has in the past led to Islamic countries
practicing religious toleration for Christians and Jews, although they were
never accorded the full status enjoyed by Muslims.
One verse of the Qur'an says "God forbids you not, with regards to those
who fight you not for [your] faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing
kindly and justly with them; for God loveth those who are just." (Qur'an,
60:8), which is interpreted as a clear admonition not to be disrespectful or
unkind to non-Muslims. According to a hadith, Muhammad said to his people
"The one who murders a dhimmi [non-Muslim under
protection of the state] will not smell the fragrance of Paradise, even if its
smell was forty years travelling distance" [Sahih Ahmed].
See also:Islam and Judaism --
Judeo-Islamic
tradition -- The Bible in Islam --
Islam and
anti-Semitism -- Projects
working for peace among Israelis and Arabs
Islam and other religions
Main article:Islam and other
religions
Historical origin of Islam
Main articles:History of Islam, Muhammad
The growth of Islam today
Islam is the largest religion after Christianity. According to the World Network of Religious
Futurists (http://www.wnrf.org/news/trends.html), the U.S. Center for
World Mission (http://www.religioustolerance.org/growth_isl_chr.htm),
and the controversial Samuel Huntington,
Islam is growing faster numerically than any other religion; this growth is
attributed to a higher birth rate, and, disputed, higher rate of conversion than
other religions. In the U.S., more people convert to Islam than any other faith,
especially amongst African Americans.
The religion of Islam brought by Muhammad began in the Hejaz region of present-day Saudi
Arabia in about 610, and according to adherents.com (http://www.adherents.com) it now comprises 1.3
billion believers, 23% of the world's population. However, only 18% of Muslims live in the
Arab world; a fifth
is found in Sub-Saharan Africa, about 30% in the Indian
subcontinental region of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and the world's
largest single Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia.
There are also significant Islamic populations in China, Europe (especially in the
Mediterranean countries), the former Soviet Union, and South
America. There are approximately 7 million believers in the USA
and Canada. If
the current growth rate of 1.76% per year (as of 2004) is simply extrapolated, Islam
may reach 2 billion adherents shortly before 2030; it will not overtake
Christianity before the 2070s, however, but since world population is
projected to curb before that time, this estimate is unreliable.
Denominations of Islam
There are a number of Islamic religious denominations, each of which has
significant theological and legal differences from each other. The major
branches are Sunni,
Shi'a and Sufi Islam, although
Sufism is often considered an extension of either Sunni or Shi'a thought. All denominations,
however, follow the five pillars of Islam and believe in the six pillars of
faith (mentioned earlier).
The Sunni sect of Islam comprises the majority of all Muslims (about 90%). It
is broken into four similar schools of thought (madhhabs) which interpret
specific pieces of Islam, such as which foods are halal (permissible), differently.
They are named after their founders Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanafi, and Hanbali. Each school of thought
differs on minor issues, although they agree on major points.
Shia Islam comprises most of the Muslims that are not counted among the
Sunni. The Shia consist of one major school of thought known as the Jafaryia or the
"Twelvers", and a few minor schools of thought, as the "Seveners" or the
"Fivers" referring to the number of infallible leaders they recognise after the
death of Muhammad. The term Shia is usually taken to be synonymous with the
Jafaryia/Twelvers.
While some consider the Islamic mysticism called Sufism to constitute
a separate branch, most Sufis can easily be considered Sunni or Shia. Sufism is
the hardest to understand by non-practitioners because on first sight it seems
that sufis are either of Shiah or Sunni denomination, but it is true that some
sects of Sufism can be categorised as both Sunni and Shiah whilst others are not
from either denomination. The distinction here is because the schools of thought
(madhhabs) are
regarding "legal" aspects of Islam, the "dos" and "don'ts", whereas Sufism deals
more with perfecting the aspect of sincerity of faith, and fighting one's own
ego. Other people may call themselves Sufis who may be perceived as having left
Islam (or never followed Islam). There are also some very large groups or sects
of Sufism that are not easily categorised as either Sunni or Shiah, such as the
Bektashi or
those that can be categorised as both at the same time, eg the Brelvi.
According to Shaikh al-Akbar Mahmood Shaltoot, Head of the al-Azhar
University, the Ja'fari school of thought, which is also known as "al-Shia al-
Imamiyyah al-Ithna Ashariyyah" (i.e., The Twelver Imami Shi'ites) is a school of
thought that is religiously correct to follow in worship as are other Sunni
schools of thought. This means that some regard there as being five schools of
thought, while others say only four, counting the Shia as a different group.
Another denomination which dates back to the early days of Islam are the Kharijites.
Members of this group in the present day are more commonly known as Ibadhi
Muslims. A large number of Ibadhi Muslims today live in Oman.
Another more recent group are the "Wahhabis", though some classify
them as the conservative branch of the Hanbali school of Sunni Islam.
"Wahhabism" is a movement founded by Muhammad ibn Abd
al Wahhab in the 18th century in what is
present-day Saudi Arabia.
Another recent group is the Ijtihadists, which
represents a wide variety of views alternatively known as progressive, liberal
or secular Muslims. They may be either Sunni or Shiite, and generally favour the
development of personal interpretations of Qur'an and Hadith. See:Liberal
Islam
See also:Imam --
Islamic philosophy --
Zaiddiyah
Religions based on Islam
The following groups call themselves Muslims, but are not considered Islamic
by Muslims and Muslim authorities:
The following religions might be said to have evolved or borrowed from Islam,
but consider themselves independent religions with distinct laws and
institutions:
Sikhism is
widely seen as a syncretic mix of Hinduism and
Islam, though its history lies in the wars between local Indian peoples and
invading Muslim
armies. The philosophical basis of the Sikhs is deeply-rooted in Hindu
metaphysics and certain philosophical practices, while Muslim values like
tawhid and rejection of image-worship inform much of Sikh ideology.
The following religions might have been said to have evolved from Islam, but
are not considered part of Islam, and no longer exist:
Islam in the modern world
Although the dominant movement in Islam in recent times has been religious fundamentalism, there are
a number of liberal
movements within Islam which seek alternative ways to reconcile the Islamic
faith with the modern world.
Islamic traditions have several sources:the Qur'an, the hadiths, and interpretations of
both by scholars. Over the centuries, there has been a tendency towards fundamentalism,
with interpretations being regarded as immutable, even those that consist of folk
religion not directly traceable to the prophet Muhammad.
Early shariah had a much more flexible
character than is currently associated with Islamic
jurisprudence, and many modern Muslim scholars believe that it should be
renewed, and the classical jurists should lose their special status. This would
require formulating a new fiqh suitable for the modern world,
e.g. as proposed by advocates of the Islamization of
knowledge, and would deal with the modern context.
This movement does not aim to challenge the fundamentals of Islam; rather, it
seeks to clear away misinterpretations and to free the way for the renewal of
the previous status of the Islamic world as a center of modern thought and
freedom. See Modern Islamic
philosophy for more on this subject.
The claim that only liberalisation of the Islamic Shariah law can lead to
distinguishing between tradition and Islam is
countered by many Muslims by saying that 'fundamentalism' rejects the cultural
inventions e.g. they will accept that men and women have God given rights and
duties that no human can infringe on but it rejects riba (interest).
Fundamentalism as referred to often means traditionalism which is a separate
issue. A good example of a fundamentalist organisation is Hizb
ut-Tahrir [1] (http://www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org/english/).
See Also
Islam around the world
See:Islam by
country
Muslims of interest and renown
See:
Notes
1 Shia
muslims do not believe in absolute predestination (Qadar), since they
consider it incompatible with Divine Justice. Neither do they believe in
absolute free will since that contradicts God's Omniscience and Omnipotence. Rather they
believe in "a way between the two ways" (amr bayn al‑'amrayn) believing
in free will, but within the boundaries set for it by God and exercised with His
permission.
2 The Egyptian Islamic
Jihad terrorist group claims, as did a few long-extinct early medieval Kharijite
sects, that Jihad
is the "sixth pillar of Islam." Some Ismaili groups consider
"Allegiance to the Imam" to be the so-called sixth pillar of Islam. For more
information, see the article entitled Sixth pillar of
Islam.
References
- The Encyclopaedia of Islam
- The Koran Interpreted:a translation by A. J. Arberry, ISBN
0684825074
- Islam, by Fazlur Rahman, University of Chicago Press; 2nd edition
(1979). ISBN
0226702812
- The Islamism Debate, Martin Kramer, University Press, 1997
- Liberal Islam:A Sourcebook, Charles Kurzman, Oxford University
Press, 1998. ISBN
0195116224
- Progressive Muslims:On Justice, Gender and Pluralism Omid Safi,
Oneworld Publications, Oxford, 2003. ISBN
1-85168-316-X
- The Challenge of Fundamentalism:Political Islam and the New World
Disorder, Bassam Tibi, Univ. of
California Press, 1998
External links
Online academic sources
Directories
Islam and the arts and sciences
- Islamic
Architecture (http://users.telerama.com/~jdehullu/islam/frames.htm)
- Islamic Art (http://www.lacma.org/islamic_art/intro.htm)
(Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
- Muslim Heritage (http://www.muslimheritage.com/) (Foundation
for Science Technology and Civilisation, UK)
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