Islam.American Perceptions 2

American Perceptions of Islam: Part II Slides and cursory commentary by Michael Craig Hillmann, January 2019 • American critiques of Islam • The notion of multiple Islams • Iranian Islam • Iranian Muslim architecture ________________________________________________ • Persian carpets • The Koran and pillars of the Muslim faith • Koran translations and illumination • The Muslim Prophet Muhammad (c.570-632) • Famous Koranic passages and doctrines • Issues for contemporary Muslim reformers • Jalāloddin Rumi (1207-1273), Persian poet and Suf • A fle called “Notes–American Perceptions of Islam,” which cites sources, offers commentary on American perceptions of Islam as well as background information on Islam, and includes a bibliography, is available (as of 1 May 2019) online at www.Academia.edu/MichaelHillmann. A regularly revised copy of American Perceptions of Islam 1 and 2 is available at www.Issuu.com/ MichaelHillmann.

Michael Craig Hillmann mchillmann@aol.com, 512-653-5152

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• Foregoing American Perceptions of Islam 1 slides treat American critiques of Islam, the notion of multiple Islams, and Iranian Islam and its Iranian Muslim architecture. Images of Iranian Islam suggest that the Islam of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iranian is anti-American, while the Iranian Islams of culturally Muslim Iranians and practicing Muslim Iranians are arguably neutral or positive with respect to America and, in general, non-xenophobic. In fact, such images may serve as an answer to stereotypical anti-Islamic views of many Americans, and even of Iranians abroad who have suffered at the hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979- ) and who understandably hold Islam responsible for the reprehensible behavior of the IRI government.

•For, if slide images strike observers as appealing as art and as demonstrating aesthetic impulses on the part of their patrons and producers, if the images depict appealing dimensions to so-called Islamic art of Iran, observers likely have to conclude that twelve centuries of Islamic art in the Persian-speaking world speak in part to religious beliefs and behaviors that do not ft stereotypical, negative characterizations by those with antiMuslim views.

• The following American Perceptions of Islam 2 slides treat Persian carpets, the Koran, the so-called fve pillars of the Muslim faith, fve fundamental articles of Islamic faith, the life of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, and American perceptions of Islam vis-à-vis terrorism, women, and Islamic law that constitute issues for many Muslims themselves.

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American Perceptions of Islam • The majority of Muslims live in the Middle East…misperception • Arabs comprise the chief ethnic group and cultural force in Islam…misperception • Tens of millions of Muslims live in the United States of America...misperception • Monolithic Islam lacks a wide variety of positions, sects, and views...misperception • Iranians and Arabs share a common culture…misperception ––––––––––– • Islam does not allow for freedom of interpretation of its Koran. Because the Koran presents God’s exact Arabic words to humankind, no room for debate or variegated interpretations exist for its readers.

• Islam emerged later than Judaism and Christianity and has adopted or adapted much of its lore and doctrine from those two religions. Consequently, its holy book called the Koran is mostly derivative.

• If not a charlatan, the Muslim prophet Muhammad was at least a sensualist, an opportunist, a ruthless warrior, and a calculating politician.

• Islam forbids the representation of human fgures in art. For example, the image of Muhammad does not appear in the art of Muslim lands.

• The Koran preaches jihād or holy war as a Muslim duty.

• Islam has not changed and does not change over time and has exhibited signs of decay and decline since the 15th century.

• Religious Muslims do not ask questions, including questions about their faith, and they unquestioningly accept the rules and regulations promulgated by Muslim religious authorities.

• Muslim peoples have not separated church and state in their societies.

• Muslim nation-states mostly exhibit non-democratic forms.

• Islamic law posits inequalities between men and women.

• The Koran preaches intolerance toward believers of other faiths. Islamic law posits inequalities between Muslims and non-Muslims in Muslim societies.

• Some inherent connection exists between Islam and terrorism.

• The Koran states that Muslims are duty-bound to see to it that others obey Islamic law [ sharī’a] and not engage in behavior contrary to Islamic law.

• The Persian-speaking Suf poet Rumi (1207-1273), a best-selling poet in America, voices views separate from core Islamic doctrine.

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The following American Perceptions of Islam 2 slides treat: • Persian carpets • the Koran • the so-called fve pillars of the Muslim faith • fve fundamental articles of Islamic faith • the life of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad • Islam vis-à-vis terrorism • Islam vis-à-vis women • issues in Islamic law that are problematic for many Muslims • the world-famous Suf poet Jalāloddin Rumi (1207-1273) and Islam 4

Persian Carpet Designs Shāh Mosque Dome, Royal Square, Esfahān

Esfahān Arabesque Medallion and Arabesque Field Carpet

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Arabesque motif in an Esfahān medallion carpet inspired by Muslim architectural decoration.

• The word “arabesque” translates into Persian as “eslimi” [= relating to Islam].

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Shaykh Lotfollāh Mosque Dome, Royal Square, Esfahān

• Heavenly garden design featuring floral scatter, shāh ‘abbāsi motifs, vines,and forked leafy shapes called eslimis [arabesques].

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Ardabil Shrine Carpet, 1539-1540

• A central floral and arabesque medallion with ogival shapes beyond its sixteen tips, a floral feld, mosque lamps in the feld on the vertical axis, and corner quarter medallions that disappear under the borders as do the feld’s floral elements in this most famous Persian carpet ever.

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• The cartouche at the upper end of the Ardabil Shrine Carpet on the previous slide features the opening couplet from a ghazal poem by Hāfez (c.1320-c.1390), which reads: “Except for your threshold, there is no refuge in the world for me; / except for this door, there is no shelter for my head.”

Central Arabesque Medallion, Ardabil Shrine Carpet

• The central, 16-tipped, arabesque, central medallion and the corner quarter medallions and floral feld motifs that disappear under the frame of the borders communicate a sense of an infnite garden galaxy, a garden design suggesting the gardens of Muslim heaven.

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15th-century book cover designs

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K88:1,8 –“ Hast thee heard of the overwhelming event? Faces that day shall be blessed...”

K22:23–“…God will cause those who believe and perform righteous deeds to enter Gardens with rivers runing below, adorned therein with bracelets of goen pearl, and therein there clothes will be of silk.”

K88:12-16–“Therein lies a flowing spring, therein are raised couches, goblets placed, cushions arrayed, and carpets spread...”

(The Study Quran, Nasr translation)

Koran Book Cover

• Koran manuscript and book cover designs and pages (including Arabic script forms and patterns), classic Persian carpet designs, and Muslim architectural decoration and designs suggest the gardens of heaven, while the dozens of references to and descriptions of heaven in the Koran strike many Muslims as metaphors for the core experiences of human souls in heaven, i.e., living in the presence of divinity.

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• This prayer carpet [ sajjādeh, jānamāz] exhibits the Arabic profession of faith in the main border at the top of the carpet, the stylized calligraphy participating in the garden design of the carpet feld and border. la ilāha illa llāh wa muhammadan ras ūlu llāh…

[There is no god but All āh and Muhammad is Allāh’s (fnal) messenger prophet] • More specifcally, this is a vase design prayer carpet, the vase depicted in the arch/niche feld area in the upper half of this one-directional carpet pattern.

•The stylized garden elements combine to suggest an ideal garden, an image of heaven Muslims are reminded of when they see a prayer carpet, which also reminds them of their duty to pray.

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Uljaitu Mehrāb, Jāme‘ Mosque, Esfah ān

• A mehrāb/mihrāb is a arch-shaped niche in the wall of a mosque that shows worshippers the qibla or direction of Mecca toward which they pray.

• A mehrāb shape fgures in the design of prayer carpets, which are called sajjādeh and jānāmaz in Persian.

• Construction at the site of the J āme‘ Mosque in Esfahān began in the late 8 th century CE, making it one of the oldest mosques on the Iranian plateau. Uljaitu, an lI-Khānid monarch who ruled from 1304 to 1316, commissioned the mehrāb known by his name in 1310.

Uljaitu was also known as Mohammad Khodābandeh.

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EsfahÄ n Vase Prayer Carpet

Baluch Tree-of-life Prayer Carpet

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• A classic Safavid idealized garden carpet with shāh ‘abbāsi motifs, arabesques. and cloud bands.

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Kāshān Afshān Design Carpet, 1970s

• denaturalization/ idealization of nature • spiritualization of matter • infnity of design • indefnability of specifc focus • paradise garden = God

• A feld of shāh ‘abbāsi and other curvilinear floral motifs unidentifable in botanical terms disappears under the border frame, thus suggesting a heavenly garden infnity.

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• “Symbolism in Modern Persian Carpet Design,” Chapter 4 in Persian Carpets Designs, reads many designs as depictions of paradise and royal and spring gardens.

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• One of the frst new postage stamps printed by the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979- ), which at frst issued “cancelled” Pahlavi-era stamps, was this image of a curvilinear feld design Persian carpet with a central medallion, the same sort of design that the Pahlavi monarchy (1921-1979) favored.

• “Symbolism in Modern Persian Carpet Design,” in Persian Carpets (1984) by Michael Craig Hillmann, suggests why these diametrically opposed governments felt wholly comfortable with the same Persian carpet depictions of idealized gardens.

• If readers, bearing in mind that Persian carpets are part of the lives of the vast majority of Iranians, were to defne Iranian Islam on the basis of Persian carpet designs, that defnition would presumably include nothing but positive elements.

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American Perception of Islam #6

Islam excludes the non-Islamic pasts in Muslim societies and denies the importance of any land or history other than that of Arabia.

• The theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran (1979- ) takes offcial pride in pre-Islamic Iranian history, as the postage stamp to the right illustrates in its depiction of the famous Achaemenid (559-330 BCE) ruins called Persepolis and the famous human rights document called the Cyrus Cylinder, named after its author, Achaemenid emperor Cyrus the Great (ruled 559-529 BCE). • Iranian Muslim privileging of elements of pre-Islamic and non-Islamic Iranian history and culture, especially the Iranian celebration of Noruz [new year] each spring, speak to positive orientations in Iranian Muslim culture.

IRI postage stamp on the occasion of the 2005 World Exposition

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Norooz/Norouz/Nowruz [New Year] 2013 • The Perso-Arabic script date (1392=2013) grows and blossoms tree-like out of spring-time 21 Earth, the time for celebration of the beginning of Iranian solar year, an ancient custom.

Norooz, 2014 • In its early years, the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979- ) was reportedly unenthusiastic about the annual celebration of the Iranian New Year at the beginning of spring, its commemoration dating back to the Achaemenids (ruled 559-330 BCE). By the 2010s, IRI’s enthusiasm matched that of offcial attitudes during the later years of the Pahlavi monarchy (19411979).

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The Koran = Quran = Qur’ān Opening Sūra [chapter] of the Koran (Iran, 1817) K1:1-7: “In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful. Praise be to God, Lord of the Universe, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Sovereign of the Day of Judgment! You alone we worship, and to You alone we turn for help. Guide us to the straight path, the path those whom You have favored, not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.”

• Illuminated manuscripts of the Koran exhibit the same garden elements that appear in Persian carpet designs and Muslim architectural decoration.

•Calligraphy, long a major art form in Iranian culture, gets inspiration from the written text of the Koran resulting in distinctive artistic effects.

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• “The Quran [= recitation] is for Muslims the verbatim Word of God, revealed during the twenty-three-year period of the prophetic mission of the Prophet Muhammad through the agency of the Archangel Gabriel…The meaning, the language, and every word and letter in the Quran, its sound when recited, and its text written upon various physical surfaces are all considered sacred. The Quran was an oral revelation in Arabic frst heard by the Prophet and later written down in the Arabic alphabet in a book consisting of 114 sūras (chapters) and over 6,200 verses (āyāt), arranged according to an order that was also revealed. The Quran is the constant companion of Muslims in the journey of life. Its verses are the frst sounds recited into the ear of the newborn child. It is recited during the marriage ceremony, and its verses are usually the last words that a Muslim hears upon the approach of death. In traditional Islamic society, the sound of the recitation of the Quran was ubiquitous, and it determined the space in which men and women lived their lives; this is still true to a large extent in many places even today. As for the Quran as a book, it is found in nearly every Muslim home and is carried or worn in various forms and sizes by men and women for protection as they go about their daily activities. In many parts of the Islamic world it is held up for one to pass under when beginning a journey, and there are still today traditional Islamic cities whose gates contain the Quran, under which everyone entering or exiting the city passes. The Quran is an ever present source of blessing or grace (barakah) deeply experienced by Muslims as permeating all of life.”

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Study Quran (2015).

• www.quranful.com presents the Koran’s Arabic text, an English translation, and a recorded recitation of the Arabic text, verse by verse.

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Opening Sūra [chapter] of the Koran (Iran, 1817) • K1:6 identifes “the straight path” as course Muslims should follow with God’s guidance. The Arabic word sīrat [path] comes from the Latin word strata [straight paved road], as does the English word “street.” The Koran describes this straight path, admonishes Muslims to follow it, promises a joyous next world for those who do not stray from it, and warns people of the unending torments in hell should they not heed the warnings.

• Muslims recite the opening Sūra of the Koran, called Fātiha [exordium] as the frst part of obligatory multiple daily prayers and as a prayer for the dead.

• Readers will note the idealized garden elements in the motifs and design of the curvilinear floral material surrounding the equally decorative calligraphy on this 25 Koran page.

Āyatu l-Kursī [The Throne/Pedestal Verse]: K2:256–“God, there is no god but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting. Neither slumber overtakes Him nor sleep. Unto him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth. Who is there who may intercede with Him save by His leave! He knows that which is before them and that which is behind them. And they encompass nothing of His Knowledge, say what He wills. His Pedestal embraces the heavens and the earth.

Protecting them tires Him not, and He is the Exalted, the Magnifcent” (adapted from The Study Quran, Nasr translation).

• “[The Throne/Pedestal Verse]…is perhaps the most well known single verse [āya] of the Koran...It is often recited by Muslims setting out on a journey or seeking either spiritual or physical protection...it is often one of the frst passages Muslims memorize...It is one of the most common passages of the Koran to adorn mosques and private homes and is often carried on one’s person in the form of pendant, amulet, or similar object” (Nasr, The Study Quran, p. 110).

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K2:285-286: “The Messenger believes in what was sent down to him from his Lord, as do the believers. Each believes in God, His angels, His Books, and His Messengers. ‘We make no distinction between any of His messengers.’ And they say, ‘We hear and obey. Thy forgiveness, our Lord! And unto Thee is the journey’s end.’ God tasks no soul beyond its capacity. It shall have what it has earned and be subject to what it has perpetrated. ‘Our Lord, take us not to task if we forget or err! Our Lord, lay not upon us a burden like Thou laid upon those before us. Our Lord, impose not upon us that which we have not the strength to bear! And pardon us, forgive us, and have mercy upon us! Thou are our Master, so help us against the disbelieving people’” (adapted from The Study Quran, Nasr translation).

• K2:285-286… “constitute one of the most often recited and memorized passages in the Quran, encompassing both a statement of faith and true belief in v. 285 and a supplicatory prayer to God in v. 286...The fve fundamental articles of Islamic faith–namely: belief in God, (belief in) angels, (belief in) books, (belief in) messengers, and (belief in) the return to God are summarized here” (Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Study Quran, 124-5).

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The Qur'an: English Translation and Parallel Arabic Text, translated with an Introduction and Notes by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem (Oxford University Press, 2016, reprinted with corrections).

• “…only the Arabic text is recognized by Muslims as the Qur’an and no translation can substitute for it. Any translation is no more than an interpretation or form of exegesis to attempt to explain, in the target language, what the Arabic says.”

• “If readers think an interpretation is unusual, they are advised frst to consider the meaning in context, and the requirements of idiomatic English, and to look at important classical Arabic dictionaries and works of exegesis to see that nothing is included here without solid linguistic and exegetical bases.”

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• abrogation [naskh] of Koranic verses

• The title of A.J. Arberry’s translation, which frst appeared in 1955, acknowledges that a Koran translation perforce interprets rather than accurately renders the original Arabic.

• Hanna E. Kassis, A Concordance of the Qur’an (University of California Press, 1983) is based on Arberry’s translation.

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K2:106–”No sign [āyatin] do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but that We bring that which is better than it or like unto it.

K13:39–”God effaces what He will and establishes, and with Him is the Mother of the Book [ummu al-kitābi].”

K16:101–And when we replace one sign [āyatin] with another.”

K17:86–”And if We willed, We could take away that which We revealed into thee.”

• Naskh [abrogation] as a technical term is a key concept in…Quranic commentary, and is a major conceptual tool for understanding the relationship between different commands and prohibitions in the Quran...In its mainstream interpretation, naskh refers to a replacement of one legal ruling [hukm] by another one that is instituted revealed later in time, in which case the original text remains in the Quran, but is no longer binding as a matter of law and practice...naskh can occur only in matters of commands and prohibitions, not in descriptive passages relating to metaphysics, ethics, history, the nature of God, or the Hereafter...Naskh would not apply to commandments so universal as to be irrevocable, such as the prohibitions againsrt murder, theft, and adultery and the command to be kind to one’s parents.” (Nasr, The Study Quran, K2:106n, p. 49)

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• A sample page from The Qur'an: English Translation and Parallel Arabic Text, translated with an Introduction and Notes by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem (Oxford University Press, 2016).

• Readers will note that the cover design of the Abdel Haleem translation of the Koran exhibits the same curvilinear, idealized floral motifs and garden patterns in mosque architectural decoration and Persian carpet designs.

• Readers will likely not note anything off-putting, untoward, or otherwise negative about those aspects of Islam that Iranian mosques, Persian carpet designs, and Koran manuscript and book illumination communicate.

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• The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary (HarperCollins, 2015) by Seyyed Hossein Nasr et al. offers hundreds of pages of commentary, including summaries of divergent opinions and interpretations of Koranic verses over the centuries.

• In addition, its 1988 pages feature 11 maps, and 15 essays, among them: “How to Read the Quran”; “The Islamic View of the Quran”; “Quranic Arabic: Its Characteristics and Impact”; “The Quran as Source of Islamic Law”; The Quran and Sufsm”; “The Quran and Islamic Art”; ‘Quranic Ethics, Human Rights, and Society”; “Conquest and Conversion, War and Peace in the Quran”; and “Death, Dying, and the Afterlife in the Quran.”

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Garry Wills: “...I...explore what I have been able to learn and appreciate about the Qur’an.

This is not a model for others’ reading of it. It is affected by my...Roman Catholicism...If one wants scholarship, he or she should begin learning Arabic. Then go to instantly to the...1,988 pages of The Study Quran by Seyyed Hossein Nasr…. I use that book often…. I consult other translations of the Qur’an too, but...work from the standard Oxford rendering by Muhammad Abel Haleem” (p. 13).

Chapters: 1 Secular Ignorance 2 Religious Ignorance 3 Fearful Ignorance 4 A Desert Book 5 Conversing with the Cosmos 6 The Perpetual Stream of Prophets 7 Peace to Believers 8 Zeal (Jihad) 9 The Right Path (Shari’ah) 10 Commerce 11 Women: Plural Marriage 12 Women: Fighting Back 13 Women: The Veil 33

• First published in 1956 and frst revised in 1959, revised for the ffth time in 1990, and republished thereafter in many revised editions, Penguin’s The Koran, translated by N.J. Dawood, has sold over a million copies and is as accessible as any English translation of the Koran. Penguin calls it “the frst [translation] in contemporary English idiom.”

• But, successive editions of Dawood’s translation exhibited errors of various sorts, for example, the use of the words “he,” “man,” and “men” in places where the original Arabic uses the words “people,” “the people,” “they,’ and the like. In the latest edition called The Koran: With Parallel Arabic Text (2014), corrected translations appear (e.g., K2:21, K2:168, K2:179, and K2:189).

• Hafz Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Mohammad Marmaduke Pickthall, Muhammad Habib Shakir, Three Translations of the Koran (Al-qur’an) Side by Side (Flying Chipmunk, 2009), affords readers the opportunity to gauge differences in meaning among 34 differences in translation.

• In a prefatory “Note to the General Reader, translator Dawood states: “… reading the sūrahs in their traditional sequence…is not essential for an adequate understanding of the Koran.

Readers approaching the Koran for the frst time may therefore fnd it helpful to begin with the shorter and more poetic chapters, such as those describing the Day of Judgement, Paradise and Hell (e.g., “The Cessation” and “The Merciful…”).

• A more basic issue for non-Muslim readers is that the Koran may not fulfll any familiar defnition of “book” except for that of text bound between covers.

Nor does it seem in translation to exhibit unity, coherence, and/or appropriate emphasis. For that matter, readers of English (and even literary critics who read Arabic) may not agree with the common Muslim belief that the Koran exhibits inimitably superior Arabic writing.

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qarā’a to declaim, to recite (sth, esp. the Koran) qirā’a recitation, recital (esp. of the Koran; manner of recitation, punctuation and vocalization of the Koranic text qāri’ reciter (esp. of the Koran); reader kataba to write, to pen, to write down, to inscribe, to record, to register kitāb piece of writing, record, paper; letter, note, message; document, deed; contract (esp. marriage contract; book Adapted from Hans Wehr, A Dictionary of Modern Standard Arabic, edited by J. Milton Cowan (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1961, 1966.

• The fact that the most recent editions of the Dawood and M.A.S. Abdel Haleem translations present a parallel Arabic text may imply the view that competent reading of the Koran may have to include reader ability to know enough Arabic to check on the meanings of individual lexical items at least in places where the English does not make sense.

• When using a published translation that does not include the Arabic text, readers might make use of online English-Arabic texts, for example: 36 www.sahih-bukhari.com/Pages/Quran/Quran_english_arabic_transliteration.php

The Koran in Persian • For the ninety or so million readers of Persian, Bahā’oddin Khorramshāhi’s translation called Qor’ān-e Karim [The Great/Noble Koran] (Tehrān: Dustān, 2005/6), with the original Arabic text on facing pages, is the most readable and reliable Persian version.

• Because the Perso-Arabic writing system is essentially the same as the Arabic writing system, because literate speakers of Persian educated in Iran study Arabic in secondary school, and because tens of thousands of Arabic loanwords have entered the Persian language over the centuries, most literate Persian speakers can easily check the Arabic text to verify the correctness of much in a Persian translation of the Koran.

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• A further issue for readers of translations of the Koran who cannot read the Arabic original relates to metaphorical language and symbolism not directly communicated in translation. In this regard, the Koran itself has much to say, such as in the following verses.

K24:35–“God guides unto His light whomsoever He will and God sets forth parables [al-amthāl] for mankind.” (The Study Quran, Nasr translation) K24:35–“God guides to His light whom He will. God speaks in metaphors [al-amthāl] to men.” (The Koran–Dawood) K3:7–He it is Who has sent down the Book upon thee; therein are signs determined [muhkamât]; they are the Mother of the Book, and others are symbolic [motashābihāt]...And none know its interpretation save God and those frmly rooted in knowledge. They say, ‘We believe in it; all is from our Lord’.” (The Study Quran) K3:7–“It is He who has revealed to you the Book. Some of its verses are precise in meaning [muhkamāt]–they are the foundations of the Book–and others ambiguous [motashābihāt]...But no one knows its meaning except God. Those who are wellgrounded in knowledge say: ‘We believe in it; it is all from our Lord’.” (Dawood) • K24:35 and K3:7 imply that many Koranic revelations are open to interpretation, at least by knowledgeable readers. As for the various various English translations of “muhkamāt” and “mutashābihāt” in K3:7, they also constitute interpretations of the Arabic. For “muhkamāt,” published English translations read: “determined,” “precise in meaning,” “categorical,” “clear,” and “defnitive”; and for “mutashābihāt”: “symbolic,” “ambiguous,” 38 “allegorical,” and “susceptible to interpretation.”

American Perception of Islam #7

Islam does not allow for freedom of interpretation of its Koran.

Because the Koran presents God’s exact Arabic words to humankind, no room for debate or variegated interpretations exist for its readers.

• Documented debate about statements in the Koran began even before its fnal compilation in the 650s. Such discussion and debate continues today, as the hundreds of pages of commentary and summaries of interpretations in The Study Quran verifes.

• According to M. A.S. Abdel Haleem in The Qur’an (2008): “Over the years, a large body of commentaries on the Koran has accumulated, ...[with] differences in interpretation...both between the various traditions within Islam (such as Sunni, Shi’i, or Suf), and between different periods in history….

• An important feature of the Koranic style is that it alludes to events without giving their historical background. Those who heard the Koran at the time of its revelation were presumably aware of the circumstances. Later generations of Muslims had to rely on the body of literature explaining the circumstances of the revelations.” Two implications of the allusiveness of Koranic statements, some of them guidance to Meccans and/or Medinans in specifc circumstances and situations, and the elliptical nature of some statements, referring to people, places, and events known to the Koran’s contemporary Arabic-speaking, Arab audience, are that: (1) quotation of Koranic verses out of their Koranic context is likely almost always to be misleading; and (2) readers today are likely to misconstrue Koranic statements quoted without documented explanatory information.

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• Abdel Haleem, continued: “Interpretation is further complicated by the highly concise style of the Koran. A verse may contain several sentences in short, proverbial style, with pronominal references relating them to a wider context. Moreover, proverbial statements can be lifted from the text and used on their own, isolated from their context and unguided by other references in the Koran that might provide further explanation.”

• One further cause for misinterpretation is the lack of awareness of the different meanings of a given term in different contexts. Thus, for example, …Dawood’s translation [called The Koran (Penguin Classics) reads]: ‘He that chooses a religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted of him and in the world to come, he will be one of the lost’ (K3:85), it has to be borne in mind that the word islām in the Arabic of the Koran means complete devotion/ submission to God, unmixed with worship of any other. All earlier prophets are thus described by the Koran as muslim [someone who submits to God]. Those who read this word islām in the sense of the religion of the Prophet Muhammad will set up a barrier, illegitimately based on this verse, between Islam and other monotheistic” religions…”

• If Muslims who read Arabic can debate the generic and specifc denotations of “muslim/Muslim and “islām/Islam” in the original Arabic text of the Koran, the issue of interpretation becomes becomes more complicated in an English translation where the words “Muslim” and “Islam” have only a single denotation. The following comparison of translations of two Arabic words in Nasr’s The Study Quran (2015) and Abdel Haleem’s The Qur’an (2008) highlight the complex issue of Koran interpretation.

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K3:7–“...it is He who has sent this Scripture down to you [Muhammad]. Some of its verses are definite in meaning [al-muhkamât]–they are the cornerstone of the Scripture–and others are ambiguous [al-mutashâbihât]. The perverse at heart eagerly pursue the ambiguities in their attempt to make trouble and to pin down a specifc meaning of their own: only God knows the true meaning.” (M.A.S. Abdel Haleem translation, The Quran.

K3:7ff–“He it is Who has sent down the Book upon thee [Muhammad]; therein there are signs determined [al-muhkamât]; they are the Mother of the Book, and others symbolic [al-mutashâbihât]. As for those whose hearts are given to swerving, they follow that of it which is symbolic, seeking temptation and seeking its interpretation. And none know its interpretation save God and those frmly rooted in knowledge.” (Nasr translation, The Study Quran.

• The difference in highlighted translations point to the obvious issue of differing interpretations illustrated in Koran translations. Published translations of al-muhkamāt include “precise in meaning,” “defnite in meaning,” “categorical,” and “determined.”

Translations of al-mutashābihāt include “susceptible to interpretation,” “ambiguous,” “allegorical,” and “symbolic.” The fnal statement in the passage in question points to a second issue, that some meanings will remain mysterious to all readers, while some will be discerned only by experts.

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•Both the Abdel Haleem and the Nasr translations feature explanatory notes and commentary necessary for 21st-century readers. With that demonstrable need in mind, readers of the Koran in translation lacking familiarity with 6th- and 7th-century Arab history might best adopt a process something like the following when reading a selfcontained Koran passage. They might, frst, read the passage in multiple English translations, e.g., Abdel Haleem’s and Nasr’s. Second, they might read relevant notes and commentary, e.g., Abdel Haleem’s and Nasr’s. Third, they might then also look at the Arabic original. This process might lead them to feel that they’ve gotten closer to how the original Muslim audience may have experienced the passage.

• At the same time, readers might assume that most self-contained Koranic passages are event-based and event-specifc communications to a 7th-century Arabic-speaking audience for whom, according to Muslims, they are Allāh’s very words through Muhammad to those 7th-century Arabs. That would mean, in turn, appreciation of such passages as mostly parables for readers of other times and places.

• Now, when people who do not read Arabic talk about what the Koran says, readers might bear in mind that only the Arabic Koran has validity for Muslims as a record of Allāh's very words to the Muslim prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel.

Consequently, readers might ask interlocutors what translation of the Koran they are using and about the reasons for their confdence in the reliability of that translation.

• Anyone willing to talk about what the Koran says should use a translation of the Koran that has the original Arabic text interlinearly or on facing pages and probably should not speak defnitively about the Koran if they cannot check the Arabic against the translation they are using.

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• Holy Qur’an, translated by M.H. Shakir, is an another example of translations that offer a parallel and vowel-pointed Arabic text.

• An electronic version of the Shakir translation appears online at www.quod.lib.umich.edu/k/koran/.

“The text was provided by the Online Book Initiative and subsequently marked up at the HTI in SGML. Like all the versions of this text derived from the Online Book Initiative, it is not free from errors and represents the text as published.”

• When readers of the Koran fnd a specifc passage of particular interest, they might compare their hard-copy translation with this very accessible online translation to assure themselves that differences in translation do not exist that seriously affect the plain sense of the passage in question.

Reading the Koran in translation K2:34-36–“When We told the angels, ‘Bow down before Adam,’ they all bowed.

But not Iblis, who refused and was arrogant: he was one of the disobedient. We said, ‘Adam, live with your wife in this garden. Both of you eat freely there as you will, but do not go near this tree, or you will both become wrongdoers.’ But Satan made them slip, and removed them from the state they were in. We said, ‘Get out, all of you! You are each other’s enemy...” (Haleem,) K2:34-36–“And when we said to the angels, ‘Prostrate unto Adam,’ they prostrated, save Iblis. He refused and waxed arrogant, and was among the disbelievers. We said, ‘O Adam dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden and eat freely thereof, wheresoever you will. But approach not this tree, lest thou be among the wrongdoers.’ Then Satan made them stumble therefrom, and expelled them from that wherein they were, and We said, ‘Get you down, each of you an enemy to the other…’.” (The Study Quran, Seyyed Hossein Nasr) •Both the prosaic Haleem and the archaic Nasr translations offer explanatory material and commentary. With that in mind, readers of the Koran in translation might best adopt a process something like the following when reading a self-contained Koran passage. They might frst read the passage in both Haleem or Nasr and then read the commentary in both and also look at the Arabic original. That might lead them to feel that they’ve gotten closer to how the original Muslim audience may have experienced the passage. At the same time, they might assume that most self-contained Koranic passages are event-based and eventspecifc communications to a 7th-century Arabic-speaking audience for whom they are Allāh’s very words through Muhammad to them. That would lead, in turn, to the 44 appreciation of such passages as parables for readers of other times and places.

American Perception of Islam #8

Islam emerged later than Judaism and Christianity and has adopted or adapted much of its lore and doctrine from those two religions.

Consequently, its holy book called the Koran is mostly derivative.

• K2:124ff–When his Lord put Abraham to the proof by enjoining on him certain commandments and Abraham fulflled them, He said: ‘I have appointed you a leader of mankind…We made the House [the Ka’aba in Mecca] a resort and a sanctuary for mankind, saying: ‘Make the place where Abraham stood a house of worship.’ We enjoined Abraham and Ishmael [Abraham’s son with Hagar, born before Abraham and Sarah had a son] to cleanse Our House for those who walk around it, who meditate in dirt, and who kneel and prostrate themselves. Abraham and Ishmael built the House and dedicated it…Say; ‘We believe in the faith of Abraham the upright one.’ Say: ‘We believe in God and that which is revealed to us; in what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael…and the other prophets by their Lord. We make no distinction among any of them, and to God we have surrendered ourselves’…When his lord said to him [Abraham], ‘Be a Muslim [(1) monotheist who submits to God, (2) Muslim],’ he said, ‘I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds’.”

• K3:48-55–“He [God] will instruct him [Jesus son of Mary] He will instruct him in the Scriptures and in wisdom, in the Torah and in the Gospel, and send him forth as as apostle to the Israelites. He will say: …I come to confrm the Torah already revealed and make lawful to you some of the things you are forbidden. I bring you a sign form your Lord: therefore fear God and obey me. God is my Lord and your Lord: therefore serve him. That is a straight path.’…They [unbelievers] plotted and God plotted. He said: Jesus, I am about to cause you to do and lift you up to me. I shall take you away from the unbelievers and exalt your followers above them till the day of Resurrection’. …Jesus is like Adam in the sight of God” ( The Koran, Penguin Classics).

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K35:12–“The two seas are not alike. The one is fresh, and pleasant to drink from, while the other is salty and bitter. From both you eat fresh fsh and bring up ornaments to deck yourselves with. See how the ships plough their course through them as you sail away to seek His bounty. Perchance you will give thanks.”

K81:1-14–“When the sun ceases to shine, when the stars fall down and the mountains are blown away, when camels being with young are left untended, and the wild beasts are brought together; when the seas are set alight and men’s souls are reunited; when the infant girl is buried alive, is asked for what crime she was slain; when the records of men’s deeds are laid open, and heaven is stripped bare; when Hell burns fercely and Paradise is brought near: then each soul shall know what is has done.”

K31:28–“If all the trees of the earth were pens, and the sea, replenished by seven more seas, were ink, the words of God could not be fnished still. Mighty is God, and wise.”

• The fact that K31:28 states that Allāh has more words to say than what appear in the Koran has least two implications. First, Allāh might have something different to say about post-7th century human circumstances and conditions than what appears in the Koran that seems to relate mostly to the world of Arabia in the 7th century. Second, informed and thinking Muslims may assume in good faith that they can interpret what appears in the Koran in light of what they guess in good faith Allāh’s later other words have been and are. Moreover, if Allāh has abrogated some Koranic statements with later Koranic statements, some Muslims might suppose Allāh’s unrevealed words might abrogate other statements 46 in the Koran.

K30:48-49–“It is God who drives the winds that stir the clouds. He spreads them as He will in the heavens and breaks them up, so that you can see the rain falling from their midst. When he sends it down upon His servants they are flled with joy, though before its coming they may have lost all hope.”

K101–“This disaster! What is the Disaster? Would that you knew what the Disaster is!

On that day men shall become like scattered moths and the mountains like tufts of carded wool. Then he whose scales are heavy shall dwell in bliss; but he whose scales are light, the Abyss shall be his home. Would that you knew what this is like! It is a scorching fre.”

K39:20-22–“Do you not see how God sends down water from the sky which penetrates the earth and gathers in springs beneath? With it He brings forth plants of various hues. They wither, they turn yellow, and then He crumbles them to dust. Surely in this there is an admonition for men of understanding.”

K29:42–“Those who serve other masters besides God may be compared to the spider who builds a cobweb for itself. Surely the spider’s is the frailest of all dwellings, if they but knew it.”

K30:48-49–“It is God who drives the winds that stir the clouds. He spreads them as He will in the heavens and breaks them up, so that you can see the rain falling from their midst. When he sends it down upon His servants they are flled with joy, though before its coming they may have lost all hope.”

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• K3:1-4–“He [Allāh] has revealed to you the Book with the Truth, confrming the scriptures which preceded it; for He has already revealed the Torah and the Gospel for the guidance of mankind…” (The Koran, Penguin Classics).

• See K39:44, K6:54, and K6:79 for the teaching that intercession belongs to God alone and K10:3 for a text that suggests Mohammad’s role as an intercessor.

• See K81:1-4 for the foretelling of a moment known only to God when all will be called to judgment in a great cosmic cataclysmic event at which God will consign all to either heaven or hell.

• K45:29-30 describes individual responsibility for actions and God’s judgment of individuals according to the record found in the Book of Deeds.

• K20:122 states that after Adam disobeyed God and repented, God extended to Adam his mercy and guidance.

• According to the Koran, sin is disobedience or refusal to submit. Repentance is simply returning to the straight path of Islām [islām = submission, muslim = one who submits].

There is no emphasis in the Koran on human feelings of shame and disgrace or guilt.

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Verses from the Koran on Islam and the Koran K5:3–“This day I have perfected your religion for you and completed My favor to you. I have chosen Islâm to be your faith.”

K4:136–“Believers, have faith in God [Allāh] and His apostle [rasūl = Muhammad], in the Book [Koran] he has revealed to His apostle, and in the Scriptures [Hebrew Bible, Gospels] He has formerly revealed. He that denies God, His angels, His scriptures, His apostles, and the Last Day has gone far astray.”

K4:163–“We have revealed Our will to you as We revealed it to Noah and to the prophets [nabīyīn; sing: nabī] who came after him; as We revealed it to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes; to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, Solomon and David, to whom we gave the Psalms. Of some apostles we have already spoken, but there are others of whom we have not yet spoken (God spoke directly to Moses); apostles who brought good news to mankind and admonished them…”

K13:4–“Each apostle We have sent has spoken in the language of his own people, so that he might make his meaning clear to them... ” K12:1–“These are the verses of the Glorious Book. We have revealed the Koran in the Arabic tongue so that you may grow in understanding.”

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K41:4–“Had We revealed the Koran in a foreign tongue they would have said: ‘If only its verses were expounded! Why in a foreign tongue, and he is an Arabian?’”

K39:38–“We have given mankind in this Koran all manner of parables, so that may take heed. A Koran in the Arabic tongue, free from any flaw, that they may guard themselves against evil.”

K10:60–“God invites you to the Home of Peace. He guides whom He will to a straight path.”

K19:37–“God is my Lord and your Lord: therefore serve Him. That is a straight path.”

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Facing Pages of a Koran, Iran, 1800

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Arabic Calligraphy as Religious Iconography

“In the name of Allāh the Merciful the Compassionate” a phrase that begins all 114 chapters of the Koran, except for K9.

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from The Koran, Iran, 10th century

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• Koranic manuscript illumination speaks to the reverence that Muslim artists, patrons, and readers attach to the Arabic words of The Koran and to their vision of divinity as a heavenly garden, calligraphic forms themselves transformed into garden elements. In addition, Koranic manuscript illumination offers a graphic glimpse in an Islam very different from that monolithic stereotype that anti-Muslim Westerners since the days of Dante’s Inferno have voiced.

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Pillars of the Muslim Faith Opening Sūra of the Koran, Iran, 1817

• Muslims derive Islamic law [sharī’a], from the Koran [qur’ān = recitation], sayings of and reports about the prophet Muhammad (c.

570-632) called hadīth, qīyās [analogy], and ijmā’ [community consensus].

• The Koran is also the source for the fve pillars of Islamic faith: (1) the profession of faith, (2) daily prayers, (3) fasting during the Muslim lunar month of Ramadān, (4) almsgiving, and (5) the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

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Profession of faith in Islam: la ilāha illa llâh wa muhammadan rasūlu llāh… ‫االاله‬ ‫مدا رسول‬ ‫اال‬ ‫اااا ه اال ما‬ ‫اال‬ ‫ل‬ ‫یاله و مح م‬ There is no god but Allāh and Muhammad is Allāh’s prophet….

• This prayer carpet [sajjādeh, jānamāz] exhibits the foregoing Arabic profession of faith in the main border at the top of the carpet, the stylized calligraphy participating in the garden design of the carpet feld and border.

• More specifcally, this is a vase design prayer carpet, the vase depicted in the arch/niche feld area in the upper half of this one-directional carpet pattern.

•The stylized garden elements combine to suggest an ideal garden, an image of heaven Muslims are reminded of when they see a prayer carpet, which also reminds them of their duty to pray.

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Performance of multiple obligatory Muslim prayers

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Obligatory daily Muslim prayers include the following verses (K1:1-7) that constitute the opening sūra of the Koran, about which K15:88 states: “We have given you the seven oft repeated verses and the Glorious Koran.”

In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful Praise be to God, Lord of the Universe, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Sovereign of the Day of Judgment!

You along we worship, and to You alone we turn for help.

Guide us to the straight path, the path those whom You have favored, not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.

• All Koran chapters except K9 begin with K1:1: bismi llāhi rrahmāni rrahim

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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Ramadān/Ramazān fast K2:183-5–“Believers, fasting is decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you…In the month of Ramadan the Koran was revealed, a book of guidance with proofs of guidance distinguishing right from wrong. Therefore whoever of you is present in that month let him fast.”

‘Eyd-e Fetr [Celebration of Fetr] • Breaking of the fast at the end of the month of Ramazān, the 9th month in the Muslim lunar calendar.

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Zakāt Almsgiving/Giving to Charity K 9:60– “Alms shall be only for the poor and the destitute, for those who are engaged in the management of alms and those who are sympathetic to the Faith, for the freeing of slaves and debtors, for the advancement of God’s cause, and for the traveler in need.

This is a duty enjoined by God. God is all-knowing and wise.”

• According to this pillar of Islam, Muslims donate a percentage of their wealth to charity each year, e.g., three percent of their wealth beyond what is needed for survival. photograph by Antoin Sevruguin (1830-1933) 60

• A pillar of the Muslim faith, the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, incumbent upon Muslims who have the health and means to do do at least once in their lifetimes, takes place each year during the hajj month in the Muslim lunar calendar.

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An excerpt from the description of the hajj pilgrimage in The Autobiography of Malcolm X:

”…Then I saw the Ka'ba, a huge black stone house in the middle of the Great Mosque. It was being circumambulated by thousands upon thousands of praying pilgrims, both sexes, and every size, shape, color, and race in the world. My feeling there in the House of God was a numbness. My mutawwef led me in the crowd of praying, chanting pilgrims, moving seven times around the Ka'ba. Some were bent and wizened with age. I saw incapacitated pilgrims being carried by others. Faces were enraptured in their faith.

The seventh time around, I prayed two rak'a, prostrating myself, my head on the floor.

The frst prostration, I prayed the Koran verse "Say He is God, the one and only"; the second prostration: "Say O you who are unbelievers, I worship not that which you worship..." The mutawwef and I next drank water from the Zamzam well. Then we ran between the two hills, Safā and Marwa, where Hagar wandered over the same earth searching for water for her child Ishmael. Three separate times, after that, I visited the Great Mosque and circumambulated the Ka'ba. The next day we set out after sunrise toward Mount Arafat. Arriving about noon, we prayed and chanted from noon until sunset, and the ‘asr [afternoon] and maghrib [sunset] special prayers were performed.

Finally, we lifted our hands in prayer and thanksgiving, repeating Allāh's words: “There is no God but Allāh. He has no partner. His are authority and praise. Good emanates from Him, and He has power over all things.” Standing on Mount Arafat had concluded the essential rites of being a pilgrim to Mecca. We cast the traditional seven stones at the devil.

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Feast of Sacrifice Hajj Pilgrimage to Mecca Iranian postage stamp, 1982

• The Feast of Sacrifce [‘eyd-e qorbān in Persian] commemorates Abraham’s readiness to sacrifce his son in obedience to a command from God. Gabriel then informs Abraham that God has already accepted his sacrifce.

• Meat from a sacrifced animal on this threeday holyday/holiday during the hajj, is distributed among family, friends, and the poor.

• If readers assume that a religion’s longstanding ceremonies offer a glimpse into the nature and personality of that religion, almost everything about Islam’s hajj pilgrimage, the religion’s signature event with signature ceremonies, speaks to positive features of the religion.

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Muhammad/Mohammad, c. 570-632

K61:?–“Believers,…Speak of Jesus, the son of Mary, who said to the Israelites ‘I am sent forth to you from God to confrm the Torah already revealed, and to give news of an apostle that will come after me whose name is Ahmad” [more praised = Muhammad (= praised)].

K2:15?–“Thus have We sent to you an apostle of your own who will recite to your Our revelations and…who will instruct you in the Book…”

K5:19?: “People of the Book! Our Apostle has come to you with revelations after an interval during which there were no apostles…Now someone has come to give you good news and to warn you.”

K53:1-–“By the declining star [= Pleiades], your compatriot [= Muhammad] is not in error, nor is here deceived!. He does not speak out of his own fancy. This is an inspired revelation. He is taught by one who is powerful and mighty” [= Gabriel].

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American Perception of Islam #9

If not a charlatan, the Muslim prophet Muhammad was at least a sensualist, an opportunist, a ruthless warrior, and a calculating politician.

A Chronology of Muhammad’s Life c. 570 595 c. 610 615?

619 620 622

624 625 626 627

Muhammad’s birth marriage to Khadija beginning of prophethood Birth of Mohammad’s daughter Fātima who became ‘Ali’s wife and the mother of Hasan and Hosayn Death of Khadīja mi’rāj, night to journey to Jerusalem and to heaven hijra flight or emigration from Mecca to Medina, beginning the Muslim era Battle of Badr, victory Battle of Uhud, defeat Defeat and expulsion of the Jewish tribe al-Nadir Jewish tribe Qurayzah attacked and its males executed

628 Treaty of Hudaybiyya, truce with the Quraysh tribe who thereafter allowed Muhammad to proselytize 629 Khaybar Jews killed. Letters sent to Iran, Ethiopia, and Yemen inviting them to join Islam 630 Quraysh tribe breaks treaty with Islam; Muhammad takes Mecca, which converts to Islam. Muhammad establishes the Ka’ba as the center of Islam.

631 Muhammad’s last pilgrimage to Mecca.

632 Muhammad dies three months after returning to Medina.

633-733 Expansion of Islam 650s Establishment of the Koran text

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• Subtitled Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion, The Truth about Muhammad is written by the director of the Internet blog called Jihad Watch, who believes that "traditional Islam contains violent and supremacist elements” and that “its various schools unanimously teach warfare against and the subjugation of unbelievers.”

• Pat Robertson: Muhammad “…was a robber and a brigand [and] a killer.” Islam is “a monumental scam.”

• Jerry Falwell: Muhammad was “a terrorist.”

• Jerry Vines (Southern Baptist Convention): Muhammad was a “demon-possessed pedophile.”

• Franklin Graham: Islam is “a very evil and wicked religion.”

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Translation of a critical Iranian Muslim view of the Prophet Muhammad.

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A sympathetic, academic, Iranian American view of the Prophet Muhammad.

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American Perception of Islam #10

Islam forbids the representation of human fgures in art. For example, the image of the Muslim prophet Muhammad does not appear in paintings.

Birth of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad (c. 570-632)

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The angel Gabriel’s frst communication of Allāh’s words to Muhammad

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Muhammad rededicates the Ka’ba.

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Muhammad Praying next to the Ka’ba

• A halo-like flame rises from behind and above Mohammad and his face is veiled out of reverence and respect.

• Obligatory multiple daily prayers in Arabic is a pillar of the Muslim faith. In this regard, the K 17:68 states: “Recite your prayers at sunset, at nightfall, and at dawn…”

• Wherever they are, Muslims face the Ka’ba/Kaaba in Mecca when they pray, that prayer direction called qibla in Arabic.

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Muhammad’s Mi’râj

• A miniature painting of Muhammad’s Mi’râj [nocturnal flight to Jerusalem and Heaven] from a manuscript of Sa’di’s Bustān [Garden/Orchard].

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Muhammad addressing Abraham, Moses, and other pre-Muhammadan “Muslim� prophets

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Muhammad on a Camel and Jesus on a Donkey

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Muslim Prophet Muhammad splitting the moon (K54:1-2) Persian miniature painting, 16th century

• According to Nasr, the verses K54:1-2 “are understood by the vast majority of commentators as a reference to a miracle performed by the Prophet. One evening he was addressing a group of disbelievers…[who were] demanding a miracle as proof of his prophethood...The Prophet then raised his hand and pointed to the moon, whereupon it appeared to separate into two halves...He then said, ‘Bear witness!’, and the line of separation disappeared.”

(The Study Quran, p. 1299).

Mohammad sits with Abrahamic prophets in Jerusalem

• a miniature painting in Mi’rāj’nāmeh [Book of Ascension], Tabriz, c. 1317-1330, Topkapi Palace Library.

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Muhammad’s Farewell Speech Ottoman 14th c. copy of a Persian miniature painting

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• The prophet Muhammad depicted on an Iranian postcard in the frst decade of the 21st century. The Illustration comes from Christiane Gruber, “How the ‘Ban’ on Images of Muhammad Came to Be,” newsweek.com, 19 January 2015.

• Above Muhammad’s head appears the profession of Muslim faith, the frst of fve so-called pillars of Islam. Muhammad points to that statement with his right hand, while he holds a copy of the Koran out of which light emerges. la ilāha illa llāh muhammadan rasūlu llāh There is no god but the God Muhammad is God’s messenger

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Jihād American Perception of Islam #10

The Koran preaches jihād or holy war as a Muslim duty.

• Many Muslims use the word jihād to describe: (1) the personal struggle by Muslims to live the Muslim faith as well as possible; (2) the struggle by Muslims to build a good Muslim society; (3) the struggle by Muslims to defend Islam, by force if necessary. Many Muslims believe that the main meaning of jihād is an internal spiritual struggle, which is what what many Muslims think the Prophet Muhammad called the Greater Jihād. The fve pillars of Islam are an exercise of jihād in this sense. Other ways in which Muslims engage in the Greater Jihād include: learning the Koran by heart or engaging in other religious study; overcoming anger, greed, hatred, pride, malice, and the like; taking part in Muslim community activities; and working for social justice. The Prophet Muhammad is supposed to have said that fghting against an external enemy is the Lesser Jihād and fghting against one's self is the Greater Jihād.

• When Muslims or their faith or territory are under attack, many of them say that their faith allows them to wage war to protect them, albeit with strict rules for the conduct of war. According to the Koran, self-defense is always an underlying cause for war, which means that military jihād is permissible for self-defense, strengthening Islam, protecting the freedom of Muslims to practice their faith, protecting Muslims against oppression, and righting wrongs. Accordingly, war is not a jihād if it aims to force people to convert to Islam, to conquer or to colonize other nations, to take territory for economic gain, or to settle disputes.

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• On this and following slides appear translated Koranic passages that include forms of the word jihād that are not translated in order to allow readers to reach their own conclusions about the meanings of jihād in the Koran.

K4:95: Not equal are the believers who have no impediment who stay [at home] and al-mujāhiduna [those who do jihād] in the way of Allah with their properties and selves. Allah has favored al-mujāhidina [those who do jihād] with their properties and selves above those who stay [at home] with a higher degree; and Allah has promised good to both. And Allah has favored al-mujāhidina [those who do jihâd] above those who stay [at home] with a mighty reward.

K47:31: And We shall try you [O you who believe!] until We know.

K61:11:That you [O you who believe!] believe in Allah and His Messenger, and tujahiduna [do jihād] in the way of Allah with your properties and selves. That is better for you if you know.

K9:19: Count you [O people!] the giving of drink to pilgrims and the attendance of al-aram mosque equal to the deeds of he who believes in Allah and the Last Day and jahada [does jihād] in the way of Allah? They are not equal in the sight of Allah; and Allah does not guide the wrongdoers.

K29:6: jahada [does jihad], he yujahidu [does jihād] only for the beneft of his own soul. K4:95:Surely, Allah is in no need for anything from the people.

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K9:73: O Prophet! Jâhidi [do jihād] against the disbelievers and the hypocrites and be harsh to them; and their abode is hell, an evil destination.

K66:9: O Prophet! Jâhidi [do jihād] against the disbelievers and the hypocrites and be harsh to them; and their abode is hell, an evil destination.

K29:8: And We have enjoined on man goodness to parents, but if they jahadaka [do jihad against you] to make you associate [a god] with Me, of which you have no knowledge [being a god], do not obey them. To Me is your return [O people!], so I shall inform you of your past deeds.

K31:15: And if they jahadaka [do jihād against you] to make you associate [a god] with Me, of which you have no knowledge [being a god], do not obey them, but keep company with them in this world kindly; and follow the way of he who turns to Me. Then to Me is your [O people!] return, then I shall inform you of your past deeds.

K25:52: So do not [O Muhammad!] obey the disbelievers, and jahidhum [do jihad against them], with it [The Koran], a mighty jihādan [jihād].

K2:218: Surely those who believed and those who immigrated and jahadu [did jihād] in the way of Allah, these hope for the mercy of Allah; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

K3:142: Do you [O you who believe!] think that you will enter paradise before Allah has known those who jahadu [did jihād] and the patient among you.

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K8:72: Surely those who believed, immigrated, and jahadu [did jihād] with their properties and selves in the way of Allah, and those who gave shelter [to the immigrants] and helped them, these [the immigrants and the helpers] are close friends of each other. Those who believed but did not immigrate, you [O you who believe!] have no duty of close friendship toward them until they immigrate; and if they seek help from you for the purpose of religion, then help is incumbent on you, except [helping them] against a people between whom and you there is a treaty; and Allah sees what you do.

K8:74: And those who believed, immigrated, and jahadu [did jihād] in the way of Allah, and those who gave shelter [to the immigrants] and helped [them], these [the immigrants and the helpers] are truly the believers; they shall have forgiveness and bountiful provision [from Allah].

K8:75: And those who believed afterward, immigrated, and jahadu [did jihād] with you [O you who believe!], they are of you. And those who are akin have prior rights to each other in the ordinance of Allah. Surely Allah knows all thing.

K9:16: Do you [O you who believe!] think that you will be left alone while Allah has not yet known those of you who jahadu [did jihād] and did not take adherents other than Allah, His Messenger and the believers? And Allah is aware of what you do.

K9:20: Those who believed, immigrated, and jahadu [did jihād] in the way of Allah with their properties and selves are much higher in degree with Allah; and those are the winners.

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K9:88–But the Messenger and those who believe with him jahadu [do jihād] with their properties and selves; and it is these who shall have good things, and it is these who shall be successful.

K29:69–And [as for] those who jahadu [do jihād] for Us, We shall certainly guide them to Our ways; and Allah is surely with the doers of good.

K49:15–The believers are those who believe in Allah and His Messenger, then do not doubt [the verity of Islam], and jahadu [do jihād] with their properties and selves in the way of Allah; those are the truthful.

K5:35–O you who believe! Act dutifully toward Allah, seek means of nearness to Him, and jahidu [do jihād] in His way that you may succeed (5.35.

K9:41–Go forth [O you who believe!] whether you are free or busy, and jahidu [do jihād] in the way of Allah with your properties and selves; that is better for you, if you know.

K9:8–And when a chapter is revealed, stating: “Believe in Allah and jahidu [do jihād] with His Messenger,” the wealthy ones among them [the Muslims] as.

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K22:78–And jahidu [do jihād] [O you who believe!] in the way of Allah jihadihi [the kind of jihâd due Him]. He has chosen you and has not laid upon you a hardship in religion; it is the faith of your father Abraham. He [Allah] has named you alMuslimin [the Muslims/monotheists who submit to God] earlier and in this [Koran], so that the Messenger be a witness over you, and you be witnesses over the people.

Therefore keep up prayer, pay the obligatory alms, and hold fast to Allah; He is your Master; so how excellent a Master and how excellent a Supporter!

K9:243–Say [O Muhammad!]: “If your fathers, sons, brothers, mates, clans, properties which you have acquired, trade whose decline you fear, and dwellings which you like, are dearer to you than Allah, His Messenger, and jihadin [jihâd] in His way, then wait till Allah brings about His command”; and Allah does not guide the backsliders.

K60:1–O you who believe! Do not take My enemy and your enemy for close friends, offering them love while they disbelieve what has come to you of the truth, [and] drive out the Messenger and yourselves because you believe in Allah–your Lord–if you have gone forth jihadan [in doing jihâd] in My way and seeking My pleasure. You show love to them in secret, and I know what you conceal and what you reveal; and whoever of you does this, he indeed has gone astray from the straight path.

K9:44–Those who believe in Allāh and the Last Day do not ask you [O Muhammad!] that they do not yujahidu [do jihād] with their properties and selves. And Allah is aware of the dutiful.

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K9:81–”Those who were left behind were glad to stay home and not join the Messenger of Allah. They were averse to yujahidu [do jihad] with their properties and selves, and said [to other Muslims]: “Do not go forth in the heat.” Say [O Muhammad!]: “The fre of hell is far hotter,” if they understand.

K5:54: “O you who believe! Whoever from among you turns back from his religion, then Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him; who are humble toward the believers, are proud toward the disbelievers, yujahiduna [do jihād] in the way of Allah, and do not fear the blame of any blamer. That is the favor of Allah that He gives to whom He pleases. And Allah is All-embracing, Knowing.

•K4:74–” Let them fght in the way of God, those who would sell the life of this world for the Hereafter. And whosoever fghts in the way of God–whether he is slain or victorious–We shall grant him a great reward. K4:75. And what ails you that you fght not in the way of god, and for the weak and oppressed–men, women, and children–who cry out, “Our Lord! Bring us forth from this town whose people are oppressors, and appoint for us from Thee a protector, and appoint for us from Thee a helper. K4:76.Those who believe fght in the way of God, and those who disbelieve fght in the way of false deities Fight, therefore, against the allies of Satan. Surely the scheme of Satan is ever feeble. (The Study Quran)

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K4:95. Those who stay behind among the believers–except for the disadvantaged– and those who strive [al-mujāhidîna] in the way of God their goods and lives are not equal. God favors those who strive with their goods and their lives a degree above those who stay behind. Unto both God has promised that which is most beautiful.

But He favors those who strive with a great reward above those who stay behind.

(The Study Quran).

K25:52. So obey not the disbelievers, but strive [jāhidhum] against them by means of it with a great striving [jihādan]. (The Study Quran)

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American Perception of Islam #11

Islam has not changed and does not change over time and has exhibited signs of decay and decline since the 15th century.

• In “Welcome to the Islamic Reformation,” the last chapter in his No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam (2011), Iranian American Muslim author Reza Aslan asserts: “That same reformation phenomenon, which forever altered the religions of Judaism and Christianity, has been taking place in Islam for nearly a century, ever since the era of European colonialism, under which some 90 percent of the world’s Muslims lived throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries…over the last century…a great many Muslims have been compelled to regard themselves less as members of a worldwide community of faith, than as citizens of individual nation-states…the last century has witnessed the translation of the Quran into more languages than in the previous fourteen centuries. More and more Muslim laity, and especially women, are brushing aside centuries of clerical interpretation in favor of an individualized and unmediated reading of the Quran.

Two Arabic terms have come to defne this process: tajdīd, which means “renewal,” and islāh, or “reform…Muslims all over the world have been galvanized by a familiar yet revolutionary idea that there need be no mediator between the believer and God...[and] Some have used this radical creed to develop wholly new interpretations of Islam that foster pluralism, individualism, modernism, and democracy; others have used it to propound an equally new ideal of Islam that calls for intolerance, bigotry, militancy, and perpetual war. Which of these interpretations is ‘true’ Islam is an unanswerable question, since the rejection of institutional authority means that all interpretations of Islam must be considered authoritative” (pp. 283-5).

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Aslan, “Welcome to the Islamic Reformation” continued: “…the Islamic Reformation has some way to go before it is resolved. It may be too early to speculate about how the sense of radical individualism and anti-institutionalism that has seized Muslims across the world will influence Islam in the coming years. But one thing is certain: the past, and the idealized, perfected, and totally imaginary views of it wrought by those puritans and fundamentalists who strive to re-create it, is over. The next chapter in the history of Islam will be written solely by those willing to look forward…It took many years to cleanse Arabia of its ‘false idols. It will take many more to cleanse Islam of its new false idols, bigotry and fanaticism…But the cleansing is inevitable, and the tide of reform cannot be stopped. The Islamic Reformation is already here. We are all living in it.” (p.

292).

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American Perception of Islam #12

Religious Muslims do not ask questions, including questions about their faith, and they unquestioningly accept the rules and regulations promulgated by Muslim religious authorities.

• In the World Wide Web age, demonstrating that religious Muslims ask questions about their faith, and even question it, takes only a Google search and clicks.

•As for observant Muslims not accepting rules and regulations promulgated by Muslim religious authorities, the issue of drinking alcoholic beverages seems an obvious and typical matter. Inspired by the following statements in the Koran, 12er Shi’ite Muslim authorities in Iran have long forbidden the consumption of wine, beer, vodka, etc.

K16:66-67: “And surely in the cattle there is a lesson for you: We give you to drink from that which is in their bellies…as pure milk, palatable to those who drink [thereof]. And from the fruits of the date palm and the vine, from which you derive strong drink and a goodly provision. Surely in this is a sign for a people who understand.”

K2:219: “They ask Thee [Muhammad] about wine and gambling. Say, ‘In them there is great sin and [some] benefts for mankind, but their sin is greater than their beneft’.”

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K4:43–” O you who believe! Draw not near unto prayer when you are drunken until you know what you are uttering…”

K5:90–“O you who believe! Wine, and gambling, and idols, and divining arrows are but a means of deflement, of Satan’s doing. So avoid it, that haply you may prosper.”

K83:22–“Truly the pious shall be in bliss [in Heaven]…Thou dost recognize in their faces the splendor of bliss. They are given to drink of pure wine sealed, whose seal is musk–so for that let the strivers strive…”

• In the Iranian 1960s and 1970s, even with restrictions on the sale of alcoholic beverages in religious cities such as Qom and Mashhad, in Mashad, Tabriz, Shirāz, Esfahān, and elsewhere, and especially in Tehrān, little difference existed between the public consumption of alcohol and in European cities. In the Islamic Republic era that began in early 1979, private consumption of alcohol at home and at social gatherings has continued, there being no signifcant difference between practicing Muslims who, say, perform obligatory prayers and don’t drink and those who do both.

• As for explanations of the differing Koranic pronouncements about drinking, that’s another story.

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• Multiple and competing clerical institutions and schools of Islamic law have endeavored to shape the interpretation of Islam throughout history.

• In an ongoing Islamic Reformation, religious individualism, so-called dissident ‘Ulamā [religious scholars], and the democracy of Online websites imply that no institution, group, or individuals speak for “Islam.”

• More precisely, because multiple Islams have existed since the Prophet Muhammad’s death in 632 CE and countless interpretations of Islam within Islam obtain today, no categorical generalizations about Islam would appear to have validity, and no group or individual can speak for those Islams.

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An Iranian-American Muslim View of Islam

• No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam: Updated Edition (Random House, 2011) by Reza Aslan is a sympathetic introduction to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad and Islam that takes into account stereotypical Western views of both.

• Aslan describes his aim in these words: “I wanted to demonstrate that…the same historical, cultural, and geographic considerations that have influenced the development of every religion…have similarly influenced the development of Islam, transforming it into one of the most eclectic and most diverse faiths in the history of religions.

• No god but God features chapters on Muhammad’s life and his successors, Islamic theology and law, the meaning of jihâd, 12er Shi’ite Islam, and Sufsm.

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American Perception of Islam #13

Muslim peoples have not separated church and state in their societies.

American Perception of Islam #14

Muslim nation-states mostly exhibit mostly non-democratic institutions and forms.

• Before the post-World War II , most Muslim-majority societies experienced European colonial occupation and governments that did not offer models for democracy in their governance of those Muslim-majority societies. For example, the British response to the so-called “Indian Revolt” or “Sepoy Mutiny” in 1847 taught people of the Indian Subcontinent taught them age-old lessons of authoritarian, patriarchal repression.

• The Muslim-majority nation-states of Iraq, Jordan, Syria arguably had no democratic rulership traditions when their former colonial rulers recognized their independence.

• America offered Iranians a perverse illustration of its democratic principles in helping to orchestrate a successful coup d’état against a democratically elected Prime Minister by the name of Mohammad Mosaddeq in the summer of 1953 and in its subsequent transactional support of the dictatorial Iranian monarch Mohammad Rezā Sh āh Pahlavi, whom the Iranian Revolution forced to leave the country in early 1979.

• Monarchies (e.g., Iran’s from 559 BCE to January 1979) and theocracies (e.g., Iran’s from early 1979 to the present) are per se undemocratic. That some participants in the demonstrations that begin in late December 2017 in cities throughout Iran called for a return to monarchy in Iran suggests that the twin issues of non-separation of church and state in Iran and of non-democratic institutions and forms in Iranian society may relate more to problematic patriarchal orientations in Iranian culture than to Iranian Islam per se.

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• According to Brian Whitaker, writing at www.theguardian.com in March/April 2004, there are four major obstacles to democracy in the Middle East: (1) an imperial legacy, (2) oil wealth, (3) the Arab-Israeli conflict, and (4) backward-looking Islam.

(1) The imperial legacy includes the borders of the modern Middle Eastern states themselves and the existence of signifcant minorities within the states, including the fact that a minority elite is controlling some countries, which fact leads to the formation of political parties on ethnic, religious or regional divisions, rather than over policy differences. Voting therefore becomes an assertion of one's identity rather than a real choice.

(2) Middle Eastern oil and the wealth it generates give rulers the wealth to remain in power, as they can pay off or repress most potential opponents. At the same time, where there is no need for taxation, there is less pressure for representation. Moreover, Western governments that need Middle Eastern oil are likely to maintain the status quo, rather than support reforms.

(3) The Arab-Israeli conflict serves both as a unifying factor for Muslim-majority Middle Eastern countries and as an excuse for repression by their governments. Because the U.S. presents itself as Israel’s strongest supporter, many Muslims are suspicious of it and its institutions, including democracy. In the words of Khaled Abou el Fadl: "modernity, despite‌scientifc advancement, reached Muslims packaged in the ugliness of disempowerment and alienation."

(4) Repression by rulers of Muslim-majority countries has led to the growth of radical Islamic groups, who may believe that Islamic theocracy will lead to a more just society. But, these groups can be intolerant of alternative views, including democracy.

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Women in Islam American Perception of Islam #15

Islamic law posits inequalities between men and women.

K4:1–”You people! Fear your Lord, who created you from a single soul. From that soul He created its spouse and through them He bestrewed the earth with countless men and women.” (Dawood, The Koran with Parallel Arabic Text, 2014) K30:21– “…He created for you spouses form among yourselves, that you might live in peace with them, an between you planted love and kindness.” (Dawood translation) K2:34-36– “When We told the angels, ‘Bow down before Adam,’ they all bowed. But not Iblis, who refused and was arrogant: he was one of the disobedient. We said, ‘Adam, live with your wife in this garden. Both of you eat freely there as you will, but do not go near this tree, or you will both become wrongdoers.’ But Satan made them slip, and removed them from the state they were in. We said, ‘Get out, all of you! You are each other’s enemy...” (Abdel Haleem translation) K2:282– “…Call in two male witness from among you, but if two men cannot be found, then one man and two women whom you judge ft to act as witnesses; so that if either of them make an error, the other will remind her.” (Dawood translation) K4:1–”Your wives will inherit one-quarter of your estate if you die childless. If you leave children, they shall inherit one-eighth of your estate…” (Davood translation).

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K24:31: Enjoin believing women to turn their eyes away from temptation and to preserve their chastity; not to display their adornments (except such as a are normally revealed); to draw their veils over their bosoms and not to display their fnery except to their husbands…[and other family members and servants]. And let them not stamp their feet when waking so as to reveal their hidden trinkets.

(Dawood translation).

K24:31: And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils [kerchiefs, khimār] over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands [and relatives, slaves, servants, and children]; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments.(Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation) K33:59: Prophet, enjoin your wives, your daughters, and the wives of true believers to draw their veils [jalālbīb] close round them. This is more proper, so that they may be recognized and not be molested. (Dawood translation) K33:53: “Believers, do not enter the Prophet’s house…unless asked. And if you are invited…do not linger. And when you ask for something from the Prophet’s wives, do so from behind a hijâb [curtain]. This will assure the purity of your hearts and well as theirs.” (Aslan, No god but God, p. 65)

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• Ā’isha, Muhammad’s widow, fghting Ali, the 4th caliph, at the Battle of the Camel. Reportedly, almost a sixth of the most reliable hadiths originate with Ā’isha.

• Mary and her son Jesus. Mary is the only woman mentioned by name in the Koran.

That one of its chapters has her name as its title and another has as its title her father’s family name suggests the important roles of Mary and her son Jesus play in Islam. See K3:33-60, K5:70-81, K19:1-36, K21:89-92, and K66:10-12.

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• K3:33ff: “God exalted Adam and Noah, Abraham’s descendants and the descendants of Imrān [Mary’s ancestor] above the nations…

Remember the words of the wife of Imrān [Mary’s father]. ‘Lord,’ she said, ‘I dedicate to Your service that which is in my womb. Accept it from me…And when she was delivered of the child, she said: ‘Lord, I have given birth to a daughter…and have called her Mary. Protect her and all her descendants from Satan, the Accursed One’…And remember the angels’ word to Mary. They said: ‘God has chosen you. He has made you pure and exalted you above woman-kind’…The angels said to Mary: ‘God bids you rejoice in a word form Him. His name is the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary.

He shall be noble in this world and in the hereafter, and shall be favored by god. HE shall preach to men in his cradle and in the prime of manhood, and shall lead a righteous life.’ ‘Lord’ she said, ‘how can I bear a child when no ]man has touched me?’ He replied: ‘Such is the will of God. He creates who He will…He will instruct him in the Scriptures and in wisdom, in the Torah and in the Gospel, and send him forth as as apostle to the Israelites’.” (The Koran, Penguin Classics).

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K4:34–“Men have authority over women because God has made one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them, forsake them in beds apart, and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them. Surely, God is high, supreme. (Dawood translation) K4:34–“Men are legally responsible for women, inasmuch as God has preferred some over others in bounty, and because of what they spend from their wealth. Thus, virtuous women are obedient and preserve their trusts, such as God wishes them to be preserved. And those you fear may rebel, admonish, and abandon them in their beds, and smack them. If they obey you, seek no other way against them. God is Highest and Mightiest.” (The Qur’an –Tarif Khalidi translation, 2008) K4:34–“Men are the upholders and maintainers of women by virtue of that in which God has favored some of them above others and by virtue of their spending from their wealth. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in their [husbands’] absence what God has guarded. As for those from whom you fear discord and animosity, admonish them, then leave them in their beds, then strike them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Truly God is Exalted.

Great.” (The Study Quran–Nasr translation).

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Below fnd the take of Omid Saf, a “committed” Muslim and Iranian American Islamic Studies academic on this translation of K4:34: K4:34–“Men are in charge of women, because God has made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which God has guarded. As for those from whom you fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then, if they obey you, seek not a way against them…”

• Saf states: “Most committed Muslims…would protest that these verses do not represent the essence of their faith, that they were contextual revelations that corresponded to a particular moment in time, and that they should not be taken as applicable for all times and places–and certainly not for our time and place. Saf adds that “…our traditions contain verses…that are at frst glance–and sometimes at second and third glances– profoundly problematic, and…we must come to terms with them.” (Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters, 2009, pp. 27-29).

• Saf’s admission that “committed” Muslims fnd K4:34 “profoundly problematic” and not “applicable…for our time and place” implies that Muslims like Saf think that individual Muslims have the right to interpret their Koran in the light of their 21 st-century context, in which K4:34 voices sexism, an anti-democratic view per se. As for hypothetical relevance of K4:34 as a description of gender relations for any time and place, that is another issue.

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American Perception of Islam #16

The Koran preaches intolerance toward believers of other faiths.

K2:63–”Believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabaeans–whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right–shall be rewarded by their Lord; they have nothing to fear or to regret.”

K3:113-115– “There are among the People of the Book some upright men who all night long recite the revelations of God and worship Him; who believe in God and the Last Day; who enjoin justice and forbid evil and vie with each other in good works. These are righteous men: whatever good they do, its reward shall not be denied them. God well knows the righteous.”

(Dawood, The Koran, Penguin Classics).

K3:199–”Some there among the People of the Book who truly believe in God, and in what’s been revealed to you and what has been revealed to them. They humble themselves before God and do not sell God’s revelations for a trifling price. These shall be rewarded by their Lord.

Swift is God’s reckoning.” (The Koran, Penguin Classics).

K10:60–God invites you to the Home of Peace. He guides whom He will to a straight path.”

K19:37 says: “God is my Lord and your Lord: therefore serve Him. That is a straight path.”

K2:256, 257–“There is no coercion in religion. Sound judgment has become clear from error.

So whosoever disavows false desires and believes in God has grasped the most unfailing handhold, which never breaks. And God is hearing, Knowing. God is the Protector of those who believe. He brings them out of the darkness into the light… (The Study Quran).

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Islamic Terrorism American Perception of Islam #17

Some inherent connection exists between Islam and terrorism.

• Bernard Lewis (1916-2018), author of The Arabs in History (1950), The Crisis of Islam (2003), etc.: “The emergence of the now widespread terrorism practice of suicide bombing is a development of the 20th century. It has no antecedents in Islamic history, and no justifcation in terms of Islamic theology, law, or tradition…

At no time did the (Muslim) jurist approve of terrorism. Nor indeed is there any evidence of the use of terrorism (in Islamic tradition)…Muslims are commanded not to kill women, children, or the aged; not to torture or otherwise ill-treat prisoners; to give fair warning of the opening of hostilities; and to honor agreements…The fanatical warrior offering his victims the choice of the Koran or the sword is not only untrue, it is impossible.…Generally speaking, Muslim tolerance of unbelievers was far better than anything available in Christendom, until the rise of secularism.”

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Imposition of Islamic Law American Perception of Islam #18

The Koran states that Muslims are duty-bound to see to it that others obey Islamic law and not engage in behavior contrary to Islamic law.

K7:156, 157–“I shall prescribe it [My Mercy] for those who are reverent, and give alms, and those who believe in our signs, those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they fnd inscribed in the Torah and the Gospel that is with them, who enjoins upon them what is right, and forbids them what is wrong, and makes good things lawful for them, and forbids them bad things, and relieves them of their burden and the shackles that ere upon them.” ( The Study Quran) K3:114–: “They [some People of the Book] believe in God and the Last Day, enjoin right and forbid wrong, and hasten unto good deeds And they are among the righteous.” (The Study Quran) K22:40,41–: “And God will surely help those who help Him–truly God is Strong, Mighty–who, were We to establish them upon the earth, would perform the prayer, give the alms, and enjoin right and forbid wrong.” (The Study Quran)

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K9:67, 71–“The hypocrites, men and women, are like unto one another, enjoining wrong, forbidding right, clutching their hands shut...But the believing men and the believing women are protectors of one another, enjoining right and forbidding wrong, performing the prayer, giving the alms, and obeying God and His Messenger. They are those upon whom God will have mercy.” (The Study Quran)” K3:104: “Let there be among you a community calling to the good, enjoining right, and forbidding wrong. It is they who shall prosper.”

K3:110: “You are the best community brought forth unto mankind, enjoining right, forbidding wrong, and believing in God.” (The Study Quran) K9:111, 112, 113–“Truly God has purchased from the believers their souls and their wealth in exchange for the Garden being theirs. They...enjoin right, and...forbid wrong, and...maintain the limits set by God;...give glad tidings unto the believers.” (The Study Quran) • Nasr calls the Islamic ethical concept “al-amr bi al-ma’ruf wa al-nahy an al-munkar” [enjoining right and forbidding wrong] “a moral requirement and characteristic of every believer and of the believing community…” (K7:157n, p. 461) and discusses it and its many interpretations (K3:104n, pp. 159-60). Undiscussed by Nasr, however, is the issue that makes the concept problematic today for some Muslims and many non-Muslims: Do Muslims have an obligation to attempt–as the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran does–to impose their beliefs as to right and wrong on communities, Muslim and/or nonMuslim, for example, America?

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JalÄ loddin Rumi

Among xenophobic, anti-Islam Americans, one phenomenon in Islam meets with approval: the life and writings of the famous Suf [mystical] poet JalÄ loddin Rumi (1207-1273), who may be the best-selling poet in America. However, typical American narratives posit that Rumi abandoned Muslim orthodoxy, his life and poetry, therefore, not Muslim.

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Jalāloddin Rumi American Perceptions of Islam #19

The Persian-speaking Suf poet Jalāloddin Rumi (1207-1273), a best-selling poet in America, voices views separate from core Islamic doctrine.

• One positive phenomenon in Persian Islam noted in American narratives about the religion is the famous Suf [mystical] poet Jalāloddin Rumi (1207-1273).

• Typical American narratives add that Rumi was heterodox in his behavior and writing. However, A corollary perception is that Rumi may have been an orthodox Muslim in youth, but left the so-called orthodox fold in his later years. However, according to experts and his own writings to the end of his life –Rumi wrote Spiritual Couplets, his magnum opus, in his later years, its fnal story unfnished at his death– was arguably in the mainstream orthodox in his devotion to the Koran and Muhammad, a fact that any characterization of Rumi should take that into account.

• In this regard, readers can begin to judge for themselves on the basis of the following four Rumi poems.

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Rumi quatrains: Escápe to Gód's Korán, take réfuge thére and there with próphets’ spírits mérge.

The Bóok convéys the próphets' wáys, those físh in Májesty’s pure séa.

Translation adapted from Lewis (2000), p. 408.

I’m a servant of the Koran for as long as I live, and I’m dust on the path of Mohammad, the chosen one.

If anyone quotes anything except for this from my sayings, I am quit of him and outraged by these words.

Translation adapted from The Quatrains of Rumi.

The lover should drink wine for as long as he/she travels so that he/she may put aside the veil of reason and modesty.

But why should I drink wine? And if I drink it, it won’t fnd reason in my head–so what will it take away?

Translation adapted from The Quatrains of Rumi.

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A Rumi ghazal

o people on the hajj, where are you, where are you the beloved is right here; come here, come here the beloved is your neighbor, right next-door so, wandering in the desert, what are you seeking if you see the faceless face of the beloved you yourselves are lord, house, and Ka'ba you have gone ten times on that route to that house for once emerge onto the roof of this house that house is sweet and you’ve described it in detail now describe the features of its lord if you have seen that garden, where is a bouquet of flowers if you are from the sea of God, where is a soul-pearl despite all this, may your travails be your treasure alas that you yourselves are the veil over your treasure

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• In Rumi Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi (2008), Persianist author Franklin D. Lewis observes: “...trained as...a scholar of Islamic law,...Rumi did not come to his theology of tolerance and inclusive spirituality by turning away from traditional Islam or organized religion, but through an immersion in it; his spiritual yearning stemmed from a radical desire to follow the example of the Prophet Mohammad and actualize his potential as a perfect Muslim.”

• Lewis explains the foregoing observation in these words: “Rumi performed the fve obligatory [daily] prayers that constitute one of the central tenets and requirements of an observant Muslim...Rumi performed the pilgrimage to Mecca...and not only observed the obligatory period of fasting during the month of Ramadan, but also pursued ascetic exercises and voluntary fasting at other times of the year, as well…he acted charitably with his disciples and their dependents, helping to distribute alms and needed assistance. Rumi thus conscientiously upheld the five principal ‘pillars’ of Islam…, both in word and deed.”

• The content and appeal of Rumi’s poetry and the story of his life as a prominent and observant Muslim would seem, like much else in these American Perceptions of Islam slides, to contradict generalized negative American perceptions and categorical characterizations of Muslims and their religion.

•For more on Rumi, see the PowerPoint presentation called Rumi and the Persian Suf Tradition online at www.Issuu.org/MichaelHillmann.

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