John Alden Williams' anthology Islam
This is an excerpt from the paper...
John Alden Williams' anthology Islam draws on writings from the wide spectrum of Islamic texts. The various sections provide an overview of the extent and type of the sacred writings of Islam: the revealed word of God in the Qu'ran; the actions and sayings of Muhammad and his Companions as described in the Hadith; and the explication of divine law in the Shari'a. The other principal bodies of Islamic textual material covered here are the writings of the various groups of Islamic mystics, known as the Sufis, and arguments and explications of theologians, known as Kalam. The final portion of Williams' collection is devoted to the writings of several dissident Islamic sects (the Kharijis, Zaydis, Twelvers, and Seveners) who have, for various reasons, set themselves apart from traditional Sunni Islam. The collection assembled by Williams provides the reader with an excellent introduction to the full range of Islamic religious writing and makes it clear how Islam builds every facet of religious, civil, and private life from the fundamentals of the faith--the revealed word of God in the Qu'ran and the message of the Prophet. The basic tenet of Islam, "from which all else flows," is that God "has spoken to man in the Qu'ran" (15). Though Islam includes the Hebrew Bible as the first form of divine communication, the word of God had little effect on humanity until God mercifully made his final revelation through Muhammad. The truth of God's word is undoubted and, having been
. . .
ight ordinance of the community" (93). Thus the Qu'ranic injunction to give to the needy was defined as the zakat by Muhammad the Legislator, as reported in the hadith. In turn, then, the zakat was codified by the legal scholars. The tax was, for instance, determined to be a tax on property that was only due from "a free Muslim who has complete ownership of the property on which it was due" (109). The scholars went on to rule on finer points of the law such as whether freed slaves, lifelong infidels, and apostatizing Muslims owed the zakat. Over the centuries these careful delineations laid out by the scholars of Shari'a were modified in practice. Today, for example, zakat is usually treated as "an obligation to spend money for charitable purposes" (109).
As these examples show, Williams' anthology builds a clear picture of how Islam's principal texts are interrelated and how every claim regarding religious duty (which covers every aspect of life) has its primary source in the revelations of the Qu'ran. The construction of an Islamic Community was clearly the goal of the various hadiths, legal explications, and theological writings. But, in the centuries that followed, differences in orientation and outright breaks occur
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Prophet God, Sufi Islam, Muhammad Legislator, Neoplatonic Aristotelian, God Qu'ran, Muhammad Fulfilling, Muhammad Companions, God Overall, Qu'ran Williams, Sunni Islam, word god, god qu'ran, revealed word, legal scholars, williams' anthology, due term, islamic texts, due term 183, property due, prophet god, islam example, word god qu'ran, revealed word god,
Approximate Word count = 1471
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
