A Reader on Classical Islam by Peters, F.E. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Page Contents Preface Introduction: A Primer on Islam Chapter 1 The Past, Sacred and Profane

1. The Quran on Creation 2. Adam and the Angels 3. The Primordial Ka‘ba 4. The Covenant with Abraham 5. Abraham and Ishmael in the Holy Land 6. Abraham the Builder 7. The Beginning of the Pilgimage Ritual 8. The Prophet Moses 9. The Wisdom of Solomon 10. The Muslims’ Jesus 11. A Muslim Account of Pentecost 12. Mecca in the Era of Ignorance 13. The Religion of Mecca 14. Pre-Islamic Monotheism 15. The Hanifs

Chapter 2 The Life and Work of the Prophet

1. Muhammad’s Descent from Adam 2. The Birth of the Prophet 3. The Scriptural Prediction of the Coming of the Prophet of Islam 4. Marriage with Khadija 5. Muhammad’s Call and First Revelation 6. Sadness, Doubt, Consolation 7. The Conversion of Ali 8. The Earliest Public Preaching of Islam 9. The Opposition of the Quraysh 10. Persecution and Migration to Abyssinia 11. The Boycott 12. Muhammad’s Night Journey 13. Losses, Personal and Political 14. An Invitation from Yathrib 15. A Turn to Armed Resistance 16. The Hijra or Migration to Medina (622 C.E.) 17. The Constitution of Medina 18. Jewish Opposition 19. Fighting in the Sacred Month 20. The Battle at the Badr Wells 21. The Fate of the Banu Qaynuqa‘ 22. From Badr to the Battle of the Trench 23. The Banu Qurayza 24. The Arrangement at Hudaybiyya 25. The Pilgrimage Fulfilled 26. “The Truth Has Come and Falsehood Has Passed Away” 27. Consolidation of Gains 28. The Submission of the Idolators 29. A Primer on Islam 30. The Farewell Pilgrimage 31. Muhammad’s Illness and Death (June 632 C.E.) 32. The Beginning of the Muslim Era

Chapter 3 The Community of Muslims

1. The Peoples of the Book 2. The Errors of the Jews 3. The Jews Warned by Their Own Prophets 4. The Error of the Christians 5. The Muslim Community 6. An Arabic Quran 7. “Catholic” Islam: Staying Close to the Tradition 8. A Shi‘ite View of the Community 9. Wrong Belief and Unbelief 10. The Caliphate 11. Caliph and Imam 12. The Ruler, Chosen by the People or Designated by God? 13. Ali, the First Imam 14. The Pool of Khum 15. The Martyrdom of Husayn 16. The “People of the House” 17. The Shi‘ite Succession 18. Awaiting the Hidden Imam 19. “Twelvers” and “Seveners” among the Shi‘ites 20. A Juridical Portrait of the Sunni Caliph 21. The Powers of the Caliph-Imam 22. The Delegation of the Royal Power: The Sultanate 23. The Religious Powers of the Caliph 24. The Five Pillars of Islam 25. Moral Islam 26. Alms and Charity 27. The Sixth Pillar: War in the Path of God 28. “There Is No Compulsion in Religion”

Chapter 4 The Word of God and Its Understanding

1. A Muslim History of Prophecy 2. Did the Jews and Christians Tamper with Scripture? 3. The Divine Origin of the Quran 4. Muhammad’s Ascension into Heaven 5. The Night of Destiny 6. The Heavenly Book 7. The Quran: Created or Uncreated? 8. “Bring a Sura Like It” 9. The Earliest Sura 10. The Heart of the Quran: The “Throne Verse” 11. The “Satanic Verses” 12. The Revelation and Its Copy 13. Uthman’s Recension of the Quran 14. Who Put Together the Suras? 15. The Seven “Readings” of the Quran 16. Textual Corruptions? The Shi‘ite View 17. The Proofs of Prophecy 18. Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets 19. Muhammad among the Prophets 20. Avicenna on the Prophethood of Muhammad 21. The Clear and the Ambiguous in the Quran 22. How the Muslim Should Read the Quran 23. Quranic Exegesis 24. Where Did the Muslim Commentators Get Their Information? 25. The Outer and Inner Meanings of the Quran 26. Ghazali on the Sciences of Revelation 27. Allegorical Interpretation as a Resolution of Apparent Contradictions 28. Dull Masses and Minds Tied Down to Sensibles 29. The Pleasures of Paradise

Chapter 5 The Quran, the Prophet, and the Law

1. On the Usefulness of Tradition 2. Scripture, Tradition, and the Law in Islam 3. The Word of God Is One: The Inspiration of the Prophetic Traditions 4. Their Transmission 5. Tendentious and Sectarian Traditions 6. The Criticism of Traditions 7. The Categories of Traditions 8. The Companions of the Prophet 9. Contradictory Traditions 10. The Canonical Collections 11. The Derivation of God’s Commands 12. On Consensus 13. Personal Initiative in the Law 14. Legal Knowledge and Legal Obligations 15. The Collective Obligation 16. The Evolution of Islamic Jurisprudence 17. The Classical Schools 18. The End of the Age of the Fathers 19. Abrogation in Islamic Law 20. The Case of the Woman Taken in Adultery 21. Crimes and Their Penalties in the Quran 22. Divorce in Islamic Law 23. Controversial Questions 24. “O Believers, Fasting Is Enjoined on You”

Chapter 6 The Worship of God

1. How Paganism and Idol Worship Came to Mecca 2. Islam and the Graven Image 3. The Muslims’ Prayer 4. Prophetic Traditions on Prayer 5. The Direction of Prayer 6. The Prophet Builds His Mosque 7. The Institution of the Call to Prayer 8. On the Manner and Intent of Prayer 9. The Friday Service 10. The Two Liturgical Festival Days 11. A Muslim Holy Day: The Tenth of Muharram 12. The Pilgrimage of Islam 13. Muhammad’s Farewell Pilgrimage 14. Islamicizing the Hajj 15. The Twelfth-Century Haram 16. Ghazali on the Proper Performance of the Hajj 17. The Prophet’s Mosque and Tomb at Medina 18. A Visit to Medina

Chapter 7 Saints and Mystics

1. This World and the Next: The Islamic Preaching 2. The Historical Origins of the Sufi Movement 3. Conversions and Affirmations 4. Two Sufi Autobiographies: Ibn Abi al-Khayr and al-Ghazali 5. “No Monasticism in Islam” 6. Monks and Sufis 7. Sufi Communities 8. Convent Life in Islam 9. The Lamp in the Niche 10. What Is the Mystic Way? 11. Junayd on Oneness of and with God 12. Self-Obliteration 13. Oneness with God Is Not Identity with God 14. The Life and Death of a Mystic: Al-Hallaj 15. “I Am the Truth” 16. Ecstatic Utterances 17. The Face in the Mirror 18. Al-Jili and the Perfect Man 19. Ibn Khaldun: An Evaluation of the Sufi Tradition 20. Sufis and Shi‘ites

Chapter 8 Islamic Theology

1. The Origins of Theology in Islam 2. The Intrusion of Philosophy into Dialectical Theology 3. The Limited Role of Dialectical Theology 4. The Fundamentalist Position: “Without Howing” versus Dialectical Theology 5. Ash‘ari on the Charge of Heretical Innovation 6. Rationalist Theology 7. Farabi on God’s Providence 8. Ghazali on Theology and Muslim Belief 9. The Truth of Philosophy 10. Rationalist Ethics and Revealed Morality 11. Ibn Rushd: The Law Commands the Study of Philosophy 12. The Mystic’s Gnosis and the Theologian’s Science 13. The Illumination of the Intellect 14. The Life after Death 15. The Second Coming: The Muslim Tradition 16. “A Man from My Family” 17. The Preaching of God’s Final Judgment 18. The End Defined 19. The Torments of the Grave 20. The Incoherence of the Philosophers on the Afterlife 21. An End to Hell? 22. The Vision of God

Sources Cited Index

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