Introduction: A Primer on Islam 3
CHAPTER 1
The Past, Sacred and Profane
4. The Covenant with Abraham 13
5. Abraham and Ishmael in the Holy Land 16
7. The Beginning of the Pilgimage Ritual 20
11. A Muslim Account of Pentecost 34
12. Mecca in the Era of Ignorance 35
CHAPTER 2
The Life and Work of the Prophet
1. Muhammad’s Descent from Adam 44
2. The Birth of the Prophet 44
3. The Scriptural Prediction of the Coming of the Prophet of Islam 46
5. Muhammad’s Call and First Revelation 50
6. Sadness, Doubt, Consolation 53
8. The Earliest Public Preaching of Islam 55
9. The Opposition of the Quraysh 59
10. Persecution and Migration to Abyssinia 61
12. Muhammad’s Night Journey 64
13. Losses, Personal and Political 67
14. An Invitation from Yathrib 68
15. A Turn to Armed Resistance 70
16. The Hijra or Migration to Medina (622 C.E.) 71
17. The Constitution of Medina 74
19. Fighting in the Sacred Month 76
20. The Battle at the Badr Wells 77
21. The Fate of the Banu Qaynuqa‘ 78
22. From Badr to the Battle of the Trench 79
24. The Arrangement at Hudaybiyya 85
25. The Pilgrimage Fulfilled 88
26. “The Truth Has Come and Falsehood Has Passed Away” 89
28. The Submission of the Idolators 91
30. The Farewell Pilgrimage 94
31. Muhammad’s Illness and Death (June 632 C.E.) 95
32. The Beginning of the Muslim Era 97
CHAPTER 3
The Community of Muslims
3. The Jews Warned by Their Own Prophets 102
4. The Error of the Christians 103
7. “Catholic” Islam: Staying Close to the Tradition 109
8. A Shi‘ite View of the Community 112
9. Wrong Belief and Unbelief 113
12. The Ruler, Chosen by the People or Designated by God? 122
15. The Martyrdom of Husayn 128
16. The “People of the House” 131
17. The Shi‘ite Succession 133
18. Awaiting the Hidden Imam 135
19. “Twelvers” and “Seveners” among the Shi‘ites 140
20. A Juridical Portrait of the Sunni Caliph 142
21. The Powers of the Caliph-Imam 144
22. The Delegation of the Royal Power: The Sultanate 147
23. The Religious Powers of the Caliph 148
24. The Five Pillars of Islam 150
27. The Sixth Pillar: War in the Path of God 154
28. “There Is No Compulsion in Religion” 156
CHAPTER 4
The Word of God and Its Understanding
1. A Muslim History of Prophecy 158
2. Did the Jews and Christians Tamper with Scripture? 161
3. The Divine Origin of the Quran 165
4. Muhammad’s Ascension into Heaven 168
7. The Quran: Created or Uncreated? 172
10. The Heart of the Quran: The “Throne Verse” 176
12. The Revelation and Its Copy 178
13. Uthman’s Recension of the Quran 179
14. Who Put Together the Suras? 181
15. The Seven “Readings” of the Quran 181
16. Textual Corruptions? The Shi‘ite View 183
17. The Proofs of Prophecy 185
18. Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets 185
19. Muhammad among the Prophets 187
20. Avicenna on the Prophethood of Muhammad 189
21. The Clear and the Ambiguous in the Quran 191
22. How the Muslim Should Read the Quran 194
24. Where Did the Muslim Commentators Get Their Information? 197
25. The Outer and Inner Meanings of the Quran 198
26. Ghazali on the Sciences of Revelation 201
27. Allegorical Interpretation as a Resolution of Apparent Contradictions 203
28. Dull Masses and Minds Tied Down to Sensibles 205
29. The Pleasures of Paradise 207
CHAPTER 5
The Quran, the Prophet, and the Law
1. On the Usefulness of Tradition 213
2. Scripture, Tradition, and the Law in Islam 214
3. The Word of God Is One: The Inspiration of the Prophetic Traditions 220
5. Tendentious and Sectarian Traditions 221
6. The Criticism of Traditions 222
7. The Categories of Traditions 224
8. The Companions of the Prophet 224
9. Contradictory Traditions 225
10. The Canonical Collections 226
11. The Derivation of God’s Commands 227
13. Personal Initiative in the Law 231
14. Legal Knowledge and Legal Obligations 236
15. The Collective Obligation 237
16. The Evolution of Islamic Jurisprudence 239
18. The End of the Age of the Fathers 242
19. Abrogation in Islamic Law 243
20. The Case of the Woman Taken in Adultery 246
21. Crimes and Their Penalties in the Quran 248
22. Divorce in Islamic Law 249
23. Controversial Questions 251
24. “O Believers, Fasting Is Enjoined on You” 252
1. How Paganism and Idol Worship Came to Mecca 258
2. Islam and the Graven Image 260
4. Prophetic Traditions on Prayer 265
5. The Direction of Prayer 268
6. The Prophet Builds His Mosque 270
7. The Institution of the Call to Prayer 271
8. On the Manner and Intent of Prayer 272
10. The Two Liturgical Festival Days 276
11. A Muslim Holy Day: The Tenth of Muharram 277
12. The Pilgrimage of Islam 279
13. Muhammad’s Farewell Pilgrimage 280
15. The Twelfth-Century Haram 289
16. Ghazali on the Proper Performance of the Hajj 294
17. The Prophet’s Mosque and Tomb at Medina 298
1. This World and the Next: The Islamic Preaching 307
2. The Historical Origins of the Sufi Movement 310
3. Conversions and Affirmations 312
4. Two Sufi Autobiographies: Ibn Abi al-Khayr and al-Ghazali 315
5. “No Monasticism in Islam” 321
10. What Is the Mystic Way? 332
11. Junayd on Oneness of and with God 335
13. Oneness with God Is Not Identity with God 338
14. The Life and Death of a Mystic: Al-Hallaj 339
17. The Face in the Mirror 343
18. Al-Jili and the Perfect Man 349
19. Ibn Khaldun: An Evaluation of the Sufi Tradition 351
1. The Origins of Theology in Islam 358
2. The Intrusion of Philosophy into Dialectical Theology 361
3. The Limited Role of Dialectical Theology 363
4. The Fundamentalist Position: “Without Howing” versus Dialectical Theology 365
5. Ash‘ari on the Charge of Heretical Innovation 367
7. Farabi on God’s Providence 369
8. Ghazali on Theology and Muslim Belief 370
9. The Truth of Philosophy 371
10. Rationalist Ethics and Revealed Morality 372
11. Ibn Rushd: The Law Commands the Study of Philosophy 374
12. The Mystic’s Gnosis and the Theologian’s Science 377
13. The Illumination of the Intellect 382
15. The Second Coming: The Muslim Tradition 389
16. “A Man from My Family” 391
17. The Preaching of God’s Final Judgment 392
19. The Torments of the Grave 403
20. The Incoherence of the Philosophers on the Afterlife 405