That verse, however, was addressed not to women in general, but exclusively to Muhammads wives:, But perhaps the most important innovation in the doctrine of jihad was its outright prohibition of all but strictly defensive wars. This timetable reflects Aslans desire to educate non-Muslim Westerners about Islam in the wake of 9/11. In their struggle for equal rights, Muslim feminists have consistently drawn inspiration from the legal reforms Muhammad instituted in Medina, while at the same time, Muslim traditionalists have construed those same legal reforms as grounds for maintaining the subjugation of women in Islamic society. This review first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 30, number 3 (2007). This is an online-exclusive Viewpoint from the Christian Research Journal. ASH is a website for cultural outreach, and to unite people who seek goodness and knowledge. This article first appeared in the Viewpoint column of the Christian Research Journal, volume 45, Este artculo es una exclusiva en lnea de Christian Research Journal. But it was never meant to function as a legal code, which is precisely why scholars had to rely so heavily on extra-Quranic sources like ijma (consensus), qiyas (analogy), istislah (which refers to the common good of the people), and ijtihad (independent juristic reasoning)all of them, by definition, reliant on human judgment and historical contextin order to construct the Shariah in the first place. Reza Aslan's book No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, first published in March 2005 by Random House, is the young Shiite intellectual's first attempt to lay the ideological foundations towards a direction of Islamic reform which is based on theological approach. With this simple profession of faith, Muhammad was declaring to Mecca that the God of the heavens and the earth required no intermediate whatsoever, but could be accessed by anyone., The occultation of the Twelfth Imam, or the, The relationship between the Jews and pagan Arabs was symbiotic in that not only were the Jews heavily Arabized, but the Arabs were also significantly influenced by Jewish beliefs and practices., For most of the Western world, September 11, 2001, signaled the commencement of a worldwide struggle between Islam and the Westthe ultimate manifestation of the clash of civilizations. Rather, sacred history is like a hallowed tree whose roots dig deep into primordial time and whose branches weave in and out of genuine history with little concern for the boundaries of space and time., [God] has established for you [the Arabs] the same religion enjoined on Noah, on Abraham, on Moses, and on Jesus, the Quran says (42:13)., The single most important factor in the performance of any Muslim ritual is the believers intention, which must be consciously proclaimed before the ritual can begin., The reformation of Christianity was a terrifying process, but it was not, as it has so often been presented, a collision between Protestant reform and Catholic intransigence. I witness that Muhammad is His messenger. No God But One by Nabeel Qureshi | Book Summary About the Author (s) Nabeel Qureshi was a former Muslim who converted to Christianity at great risk to his life and relationships. The book was a best seller. It is not important whether the stories describing the childhood of Muhammed, Jesus, or David are true. His memoir gets most exciting toward the end where he describes his escape from radical Islam, facilitated in a crucial way by the appeal of Christianity. How can this be? Many reviews are behind a subscriber paywall. But because every path eventually leads to the same destination, which path one takes is irrelevant., However, Saudi Arabia quickly discovered what the rest of the world would soon learn. A two-page chronology marks key events from the birth of the Prophet Muhammad in 570 up to Al-Qaeda's attack on New York and Washington in 2001 (pp. Aslans Particular Brand of Islam. Other chapters explore the concept of jihad, Sufi mysticism, and the Islamic response to colonialism up through the early twentieth century. On one hand, the magnifying glass of expertise is angled to offer a sharper image of the Muslim community, its history, its customs, and its ambitions, to show a bewildering array of specimens. Muhammad, unfortunately, made no clear arrangements for a successor, and the era immediately following [his] death wasa tumultuous time for the Muslim community (66). Oh man. Nabeel concludes: "There is no God but one, and He is Father, Spirit, and Son. We are all living in it. While the details of the Amirs religion have been lost to history, most scholars are convinced that by the sixth century C.E., [Quoting the Quranic passage in chapter 3 verse 84]. There are, of course, many paths to the summit-some better than others. Tawhid means that God is Oneness. Written in clear prose and filled with memorable stories both personal and traditional, I found my mind and heart easily staying engaged with this book. For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: http://www.equip.org, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. The narrative begins in seventh-century Arabia, where the Prophet Muhammad set out to create a society based on social egalitarianism and equality of the sexes. In No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, Reza Aslan chronicles the development of Islam from its unpromising beginnings into a force to be reckoned with worldwide. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016. The Meaning of Life: What is our purpose on Earth? Because it immersed me in a religion I don't know in a compelling way, and gave me enough of a platform of information to perhaps start seeking other answers, and for that I'll overlook a lot. Those inclined to believe in miracles may have difficulty with this approach, as he says that it doesn't matter whether miracles happened, but what role such myths play in shaping the beliefs of a particular religious community. First, a majority of Westerners think, Muslims are hereprobably to staybut as long as they mind their own business and dont disrupt my way of life, Ive got no problem with that. After all, Muslims constitute about half of 1 percent of the total U.S. population (somewhere between 5 and 6 million), there hasnt been a serious terrorist incident in the United States since 9/11, and most of our Muslim neighbors seem to have assimilated into the mainstream. . 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.. And now I am Yourself. This in my language is stafil, said the Greek. It was fascinating to see the overlap between Islam and Judaism. Aslan begins his apologetic story talking of modern Islam as in a period of reformation, comparing it to the Reformation of the 16th century. 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 Abrahamic religions. A democratic state can be established upon any normative moral framework as long as pluralism remains the source of its legitimacy. India was, until recently, governed by partisans of an litist theology of Hindu Awakening (Hindutva) bent on applying an implausible but enormously successful vision of true Hinduism to the state. Cliff Notes , Cliffnotes , and Cliff's Notes are trademarks of Wiley Publishing, Inc. SparkNotes and Spark Notes are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Or: at the end of the show Orel turns out okay somehow and still has his faith despite everything. It strikes me that since there are so many variant translations and editions that could be manipulated to mean anything, every group will continue to strive for what Mohammad intended by projecting their own beliefs on him. No god but God by Reza Aslan Genre: Are they now going to inherit just like men who have worked to earn that money? Muhammads response to these complaints was both unsympathetic and shockingly unyielding. ), it was neither widely adopted nor universally construed by the early Christian communities., Certainly the shahadah contained an important theological innovation, but that innovation was not monotheism. Al-Tabari recounts how some of these men brought their grievances to Muhammad, asking, How can one give the right of inheritance to women and children, who do not work and do not earn their living? He probes and asks many questions throughout, but he never seems to wonder why Mohammad never appointed a successor, and how the contenders and their descendants have been battling ever since (three of the four successors to Mohammad were poisoned or murdered), or why he didn't write down his revelations of the Quran at the time, which led to it being canonized and codified decades later by Uthman, a leader Aslan himself deems corrupt. 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. Please see the supplementary resources provided below for other helpful content related to this book. "No god but God" is a text written by Iranian-American Muslim scholar Reza Aslan. Sunni and Shiites had always been merely exotic names but for the first time I could understand why these groups might despise each other all these centuries later. You will learn a lot from No God But God, especially about Islamic cultural practices and their Quaranic (or lack of Quaranic) roots. Given sentence below refers to a numbered sentence in the passage. This website generates no revenue, has no banner ads, and does not collect information to sell to third parties. are 1 Short Summary and 7 Book Reviews. Fundamentalism, in all religious traditions, is impervious to suppression. Is he a supernaturalist? Aslan goes on to say that this does not mean that the religious authorities would have no influence on the state. He says that such influence can only be moral, not political. This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 44, number 2 (2021). Our Bible study class decided we wanted to learn something about Muslims. vocabulary. Sites with a book review or quick commentary on No god but God by Reza Aslan. The Islamic Reformation is already here. Does he believe that all religions are equally valid? Intra-Islamic Sectarianism. However,it is not merely the tension that exists between the Islamic religion . One could argue that the clash of monotheisms is the inevitable result of monotheism itself. If you decide to subscribe to our newsletter, it will be a way to stay in touch, without being bothered by frequent emails. I am unable to say, And they are unable to hear., The concept of fasting was extraneous to the bedouin experience (it would have been absurd to voluntarily deprive oneself of food or water in a desert climate), there is no doubt that Mohammed mutated this ritual for the Jews of the Arabian Peninsula, which the Quran itself admits by declaring: Fasting is prescribed for you, just as it was prescribed for those who preceded you (2: 183). He came upon a small federation of villages and an oasis where he wished to settle, a region called Yathrib. Myth typically includes miracles, and heroic portrayals of people involved. Muhammads Companions (those who had lived and worked closely with him) assumed rule, and their oral pronouncements were loosely codified in a series of haditha, a grab bag of rules and regulations that by the ninth century were subject to radically differing interpretations exploited by competing claimants to Islamic purity. You have brought me my inab, the Arab said. 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). True, there is only one God, but that is just the beginning. First, the historical narrative Aslan presents is engaging, informative, eminently readable, and, under close scrutiny, fairly reliable. This updated edition addresses the events of the past decade, analyzing . 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. In short, a really interesting book for both Muslims and anyone who wants to know more about the origins and growth of this Abrahamic faith. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 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. 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. Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. day in America, the first I ever truly celebrated in full appreciation because only a few months ago I discovered that I had this eminent mans legacy all backwards. This is my angur! cried the Persian. arabic name for the city of medina. That's why it's so chilling to read about leaders -- the Companions? Your Spirit mixed with my Spirit little by little, he wrote of God in his Diwan, by turns, through reunions and abandons. By their very nature, myths inhere both legitimacy and credibility. He wrote about this journey in the New York Times bestselling book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. Its history, briefly chronicled, makes a good primer for readers who have no idea of the origins of this faith. Certainly, it contains the moral framework for living a holy and righteous life as a Muslim. On the other, we have an author so blinded by personal bias that I routinely had to put the book down and walk away. He envisions a courtyard roofed in palm leaves, with living quarters made of wood and mud lining the walls. If the husband died, his wife would inherit a portion of his property; if he divorced her, the entire dowry was hers to take back to her family. 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. Clearly, education and tolerance are essential., Because the concept of the Trinity is not explicitly mentioned in the New Testament (the term was coined by one of the oldest and most formidable church fathers, Tertullian of Carthage, early in the third century C.E. Philosophy, however, is itself truth; its purpose is merely to express reality through the faculty of human reason., Thus, the Quran promises that all those who believethe Jews, the Sabians, the Christiansanyone who believes in God and the Last Days, and who does good deeds, will have nothing to fear. 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). This became the site of Medina, the City of the Prophet. Aslan details the significance of Medina in Chapter 3, where he makes the arresting statement, Today, Medina is simultaneously the archetype of Islamic democracy and the impetus for Islamic militancy (52). They present radically different views of God and salvation and only one can be true. (Here, as elsewhere, Aslan strays from traditional accounts in the interests of historical accuracy. Men are in charge of women, because Allah has made some of them excel the others, and because they spend some of their wealth. -- who casually overturned some of Mohammad's famously moderate teachings after he died, by claiming they'd heard Mohammad say otherwise. The argument that the Shariah derives its divine nature from its first and primary source, the Quran, falls flat when one recognizes that the Quran, unlike the Torah, is not a book of laws. God is most great (Allahu Akbar), God is most great, God is most great, God is most great, I witness that there is no god but Allah (the God); I witness that there is no god but Allah. Summary: Orel Puppingtons favorite thing in the universe used to be God, but with how his prayers have been turning out, how the Christians around him act, with how scary his life is, he isn't so sure anymore. What are we, especially those of us who are traditional Christian believers, to make of this, or of the rest of Aslans book? Counter it with cruelty, and it gains adherents. Not that I totally trusted Aslan's account. The first, tafsir, is primarily concerned with elucidating the literal meaning of the text, while the second, tawil, is more concerned with the hidden, esoteric meaning of the Quran. But this will be more than a home. The front pages of No god But. Muhammads exile effectively ended in 622 AD. The sporadic revelations that came to Muhammad were recounted orally, addressing injustices in Arabian society, such as the distribution of wealth among the Quraysh. I'm not reverse FoxNewsing him and saying he must be a staunch muslim to write a book on Islam. . . Islam is no different than Judaism or Christianity in being human responses to the religious imperative. Para ms informacin o para Who Was Adam? He relies on this in his defense of the early history of Islam and of the peculiarities of Islamic tradition and the challenges of Quranic interpretation. Tight composition, fast pacing, authoritative tone: it's no surprise it was a bestseller. His books include No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam (published 2005) and How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization and the End of the War on Terror (published 2009). Aslan, Reza _ No god but God.. . It seems, based on what he does say, that the United States of America could become an Islamic state. Like the infancy narratives in the Gospels, these stories are not intended to relate historical events, but to elucidate the mystery of the prophetic experience.Again, the historicity of these topoi is irrelevant. It offers a sympathetic but critical look at the origin and development of Islam. The French went to great lengths to cultivate class divisions in Algeria, the Belgians promoted tribal factionalism in Rwanda, and the British fostered sectarian schisms in Iraq, all in a futile attempt to minimize nationalist tendencies and stymie united calls for independence. Because of the variability of the Arabic language, both of these translations are grammatically, syntactically, and definitionally correct. Inshallah. This updated edition addresses the events of the past decade, analyzing . We got a stomach bug in the house.. Zachs down and out . Aslan explores the history of Islam, from it nascent beginnings in the previously obscure Arabian desert, to the unprecedent bourgeoning of its power, as it spread from Spain to Northern India, evolving in countless different directions, under the guise of a million and one different messages all linked to a single figure named Mohammed, a merchant turned prophet, whose message transformed a series of small Arab tribes into one of the most powerful religious forces the world has ever seen. Resources for Greater Impact: This website generates no revenue, has no banner ads, and does not collect information to sell to third parties. 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. Perhaps then we will recognize the intimate connections that bind us all together beyond any cultural, ethnic, or religious affiliations. BuffaloLib's library catalog tends to include a brief plot synopsis and a collection of selected trade reviews for each entry. In fact, the Hungarian scholar Ignaz Goldziher has documented numerous hadith the transmitters of which claimed were derived from Muhammad but which were in reality verses from the Torah and Gospels, bits of rabbinic sayings, ancient Persian maxims, passages of Greek philosophy, Indian proverbs, and even an almost word-for-word reproduction of the Lords Prayer. But this is what I call uzum, replied the Turk. The book details the succession of various caliphs who led the religion and skillfully veers off into side-stories about more modern developments such as the revolution in Iran, the results of. muslim profession of faith, "there is no god, but god and muhammad is god's messenger." yathrib. It will not be considered reliable by Islamic Traditionalists, but Aslan makes a plausible case that their narrative is largely mythological. God willing., As a text, the Quran is more than the foundation of the Islamic religion; it is the source of Arabic grammar. The Quran is Gods direct self-revelation to humanity. The four travelers represent humanity in its search for an inner spiritual need it cannot define and which it expresses in different ways. 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. An astounding work. I want to conclude by recommending another book. He is the founder of AslanMedia.com, an online journal for news and entertainment about the Middle East and the world, and co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of BoomGen Studios, the premier entertainment brand for creative content from and about the Greater Middle East. Italian Offers quick summary / overview and other basic information submitted by Wikipedia contributors who considers themselves "experts" in the topic at hand. There is no God but one, and He is Jesus" (349). Its most important historical claim, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, is so well-attested that, in comparison with what is actually known about the life of Muhammad, it is refreshingly factual and free of mythology. I adored Zealot and was charmed by Aslans ability to present a complicated history and an important mythology with clarity and precision. This should concern us. FreeBookNotes has 2 more books by Reza Aslan, with a total of 3 study guides. Ill read anything he cares to write. The intention of the United States government in supporting Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war was to curb the spread of Irans revolution, but it had the more disastrous effect of curbing its evolution., Some have argued, a few of them violently, that the Caliphate should be restored as the emblem of Muslim unity. . Whereas a religion of many gods posits many myths to describe the human condition, a religion of one god tends to be monomythic; it not only rejects all other gods, it rejects all other explanations for God. This is a welcome tendency in his book.) No god but God is a text written by Iranian-American Muslim scholar Reza Aslan. Respond with despotism, and it becomes the sole voice of opposition. This is a major attraction that Christianity has for me. This is the final station along the Sufi Way. Reviews tend to be written in a professional, detached voice and provide detailed coverage of the content included. . 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). This tribe, in due course, evolved its own laws of social governance and developed into a religious cult. God is Unity: wholly indivisible, entirely unique, and utterly indefinable. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. No, Christianity and Islam are not two paths to the same God. Everything you ever wanted to know about Islam, but were too afraid or too benighted to ask. because the woman is weak, silly, and in one sense like a child, his commentary became (and still is) one of the most widely respected in the Muslim world. 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. I witness that Muhammad is His messenger. I have extremely mixed feelings about this book. . Tenets of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity mingled with native paganism, and this amorphous mix congealed into a kind of henotheism, where tribes acknowledged a panoply of gods but reserved their highest respect for one or another particular god. Give the coin to me, he said. What a conflicting review to have to write.
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