Howeverand this is the most important aspect of the parablethe linguist can offer the travelers only the grapes and nothing more. On one hand, we have a wealth of easy-to-read historical and cultural information about Islam in a great, readable format for Western audiences. This is a major attraction that Christianity has for me. But this is what I call uzum, replied the Turk. Yet regardless of whether one is labeled a Modernist or a Traditionalist, a reformist or a fundamentalist, a feminist or a, must recognize that greater knowledge about Islam is not enough to alter peoples perceptions of Muslims. As one would expect, Muhammads innovations did not sit well with the male members of his community. . (Here, as elsewhere, Aslan strays from traditional accounts in the interests of historical accuracy. Alarmists warn of the imminent dissolution of civilization, longsuffering multiculturalists call for sharp discrimination between the militant minority and the peace-loving majority within the Muslim community, and others greet Muslim immigration with the expectation that little will change in American culture as a result of the assimilation of Muslims. Sites like SparkNotes with a No god but God study guide or cliff notes. Whereas a religion of many gods posits many myths to describe the human condition, a religion of one god tends to be monomythic; it not only rejects all other gods, it rejects all other explanations for God. During a period of exile, Muhammad gathered supporters and received additional revelations, summed up in the shahadah: There is no god but God, and Muhammad is Gods messenger.. Cliff Notes , Cliffnotes , and Cliff's Notes are trademarks of Wiley Publishing, Inc. SparkNotes and Spark Notes are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. But the cleansing is inevitable, and the tide of reform cannot be stopped. You will learn a lot from No God But God, especially about Islamic cultural practices and their Quaranic (or lack of Quaranic) roots. Zayd, on the other hand, continued in the new faith, abandoning the religion of his people and refraining from worshipping, in his own words, the weak and powerless idols of the sanctuary., As with all journeys, the Way has an end, though it should not be imagined as a straight road leading to a fixed destination but rather as a majestic mountain whose peak conceals the presence of God. A book review of In Quest of the Historical Adam: A Biblical and Scientific Exploration by William Lane Craig (Eerdmans, 2021), Let Faith Oust Fact: A Review of The Whale, No Mindful Matter: The Explanatory Failure of Scientific Materialism, Seven or So Exhortations to College-Bound Students, Una montaa allanadaUna mirada a Brianna Wiest, A Mountain Made LowA Look at Brianna Wiest, Connect with the Christian Research Institute. Browse books: Recent| popular| #| a| b| c| d| e| f| g| h| i| j| k| l| m| n| o| p| q| r| s| t| u| v| w| x| y| z|. In fact, Rezas Shiite background strongly influences his writing. Do read the book. "No god but God" is a text written by Iranian-American Muslim scholar Reza Aslan. It seems, based on what he does say, that the United States of America could become an Islamic state. But if the intent was to present a vision of how muslims should understand their faith under the challenge of modernity, it falls way short. In his book No God but God, Reza Aslan claims that "In all, there are said to be three hundred sixty idols housed in and around the Kaba, representing every god recognized in the Arabian Peninsula." Therefore people from all over Arabia congregated in this area to worship their gods. Muhammad, unfortunately, made no clear arrangements for a successor, and the era immediately following [his] death wasa tumultuous time for the Muslim community (66). Written in clear prose and filled with memorable stories both personal and traditional, I found my mind and heart easily staying engaged with this book. His concluding chapter expresses the hope that a democratic reform movement within Islam eventually will displace the radical Islamist movement, which he believes is defined by terror and at odds with the true spirit of Islam. He valued her and she was his advisor, advocate, lover and friend. Having converted, he was gradually radicalized. Reza Aslan's book No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam has been appreciated by the world. When fourteen centuries ago Muhammed launched a revolution in Mecca to replace the archaic, rigid, and inequitable strictures of tribal society with a radically new vision of divine morality and social egalitarianism, he tore apart the fabric of traditional Arab society. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. ()- ' ' . Rather, the Christian Reformation was an argument over the future of the faitha violent, bloody argument that engulfed Europe in devastation and war for more than a century., As is the case with most prophets, Muhammads birth was accompanied by signs and portents. Verified answer. . ), the resources below will generally offer No god but God chapter summaries, quotes, and analysis of themes, characters, and symbols. As for women you feel are averse, talk to them suasively; then leave them alone in bed (without molesting them) and go to bed with them (when they are willing). Fundamentalism, in all religious traditions, is impervious to suppression. This article first appeared in the Viewpoint column of the Christian Research Journal, volume 45, Este artculo es una exclusiva en lnea de Christian Research Journal. In fact, the Hungarian scholar Ignaz Goldziher has documented numerous hadith the transmitters of which claimed were derived from Muhammad but which were in reality verses from the Torah and Gospels, bits of rabbinic sayings, ancient Persian maxims, passages of Greek philosophy, Indian proverbs, and even an almost word-for-word reproduction of the Lords Prayer. A very good, eye-opening, mind-blowing read on the foundation and development of Islam as a religion, movement, identify, community, or in short, the. Aslan explores the history of Islam, from it nascent beginnings in the previously obscure Arabian desert, to the unprecedent bourgeoning of its power, as it spread from Spain to Northern India, evolving in countless different directions, under the guise of a million and one different messages all linked to a single figure named Mohammed, a merchant turned prophet, whose message transformed a series of small Arab tribes into one of the most powerful religious forces the world has ever seen. The categorization and separation of native peoples was a common tactic for maintaining colonial control over territories whose national boundaries had been arbitrarily drawn with little consideration for the ethnic, cultural, or religious makeup of the local inhabitants. quran/iqra. First, the historical narrative Aslan presents is engaging, informative, eminently readable, and, under close scrutiny, fairly reliable. GoodReads community and editorial reviews can be helpful for getting a wide range of opinions on various aspects of the book. Prophets are, above all, reformers who redefine and reinterpret the existing beliefs and practices of their communities, providing fresh sets of symbols and metaphors with which succeeding generations can describe the nature of reality., The separation of church and state of which America is so proud was established in Islam fourteen centuries ago, when it was decided that no Caliph would have religious authority over the community., In fact, the term holy war originates not with Islam but with the Christian Crusaders who first used it to give theological legitimacy to what was in reality a battle for land and trade routes. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Or: at the end of the show Orel turns out okay somehow and still has his faith despite everything. Aslan says nothing about the boundaries of a legitimate, democratic Islamic state. the text of islam. He came upon a small federation of villages and an oasis where he wished to settle, a region called Yathrib. Muhammads exile effectively ended in 622 AD. The linguist is the Sufi, who enlightens humanity to the fact that what it seeks (its religions), though called by different names, are in reality one identical thing. ASH is a website for cultural outreach, and to unite people who seek goodness and knowledge. -- who casually overturned some of Mohammad's famously moderate teachings after he died, by claiming they'd heard Mohammad say otherwise. Are they now going to inherit just like men who have worked to earn that money? Muhammads response to these complaints was both unsympathetic and shockingly unyielding. Come to prosperity, come to prosperity. I hope Islamic reformists are successful in curbing the excesses of fanatics. One thing that came as a surprise to me was that Muhammad, like Jesus, did appreciate women and their contributions. Contrary to popular perception in the West, Islam is a religion firmly rooted in the prophetic traditions of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. It is here, at the end of the journey, when the individual has been stripped of his ego, that he becomes one with the Universal Spirit and achieves unity with the Divine. In this interesting book, Aslan starts each section by presenting 'the idealized' view of a topic, as narrated by early Muslim scholars (what he terms as 'myth') and then presents what he believes 'really happened' (objective history). Chapter 2 explains the emergence of Islam in its initial socioeconomic context. I disagree with Aslan - it matters a great deal whether the beliefs of a religious community are shaped by actual historical events (including amazing ones) or whether such beliefs are based on falsehood. Fourth, this methodology raises questions: Aslan is Muslim, but in what sense? , . To me, this was worth reading, because Reza Aslan made the story if Islam come alive and told me so much I didn't know about Islam. . God didn't exactly die, god chose to become the universe and ceased being a separate entity. It is hard to imagine that these ideals would not privilege Muslim believers over other members of society. No God but One: Allah or Jesus? This is an online-exclusive Viewpoint from the Christian Research Journal. The Arabian desert was the habitation, geopolitically, of warring tribes, and religiously, of waning pluralism. This is my angur! cried the Persian. Aslan begins his apologetic story talking of modern Islam as in a period of reformation, comparing it to the Reformation of the 16th century. Chapter 1 provides the back story for the emergence of Islam. Heres an illustration of his outlook: If the childhood stories about Muhammed seem familiar, it is because they function as a prophetic topos: a conventional literary theme that can be found in most mythologies. The argument that the Shariah derives its divine nature from its first and primary source, the Quran, falls flat when one recognizes that the Quran, unlike the Torah, is not a book of laws. You have brought me my inab, the Arab said. The Islamic Reformation is already here. He is the copy of God, in the words of al-Arabis greatest disciple, Abdul Karim al-Jili: he is the mirror in which the divine attributes are perfectly reflected; the medium through which God is made manifest., More than a thousand years before Christ, Zarathustra preached the existence of a heaven and a hell, the idea of a bodily resurrection, the promise of a universal savior who would one day be miraculously born to a young maiden, and the expectation of a final cosmic battle that would take place at the end of time between the angelic forces of good and the demonic forces of evil., It is a shame that this word, myth, which originally signified nothing more than stories of the supernatural, has come to be regarded as synonymous with falsehood, when in fact myths are always true. Rather, sacred history is like a hallowed tree whose roots dig deep into primordial time and whose branches weave in and out of genuine history with little concern for the boundaries of space and time., [God] has established for you [the Arabs] the same religion enjoined on Noah, on Abraham, on Moses, and on Jesus, the Quran says (42:13)., The single most important factor in the performance of any Muslim ritual is the believers intention, which must be consciously proclaimed before the ritual can begin., The reformation of Christianity was a terrifying process, but it was not, as it has so often been presented, a collision between Protestant reform and Catholic intransigence. Aslan is clear-eyed about the challenges facing contemporary Islam and offers helpful evidence for dismantling arguments against the faith (useful if, you know, youre friends with Bill Maher or just spend a lot of time on the internet). xxxi-xxxii). If the husband died, his wife would inherit a portion of his property; if he divorced her, the entire dowry was hers to take back to her family. Does he believe that all religions are equally valid? ), the resources below will generally offer No god but God chapter summaries, quotes, and analysis of themes, characters, and symbols. Elsewhere the Quran is more explicit: Permission to fight is given only to those who have been oppressed who have been driven from their homes for saying, God is our Lord (22:39; emphasis added)., This creator God was called Allah, which is not a proper name but a contraction of the word al-ilah, meaning simply the God., There are striking similarities between the Christian and Quranic descriptions of the Apocalypse, the Last Judgment, and the paradise awaiting those who have been saved., But tawhid, which literally means making one, implies more than just monotheism. For example, one chapter is entirely devoted to the controversial, because often misinterpreted, issue of jihad, while others on the Ottoman Empire, the formation of al Qaeda, and so continuing in chronological order up to Osama bin Laden. Aslans own account of Muhammads community indicates that non-Muslim citizens had more limited rights than the Muslims who shaped the ideals and social arrangements of their society. Its the way Aslan teaches on the page that I find so endearing. After a few generations, almost anything could be given the status of hadith if one simply claimed to trace its transmission back to Muhammad. It is a story with two dominant themes, one geopolitical, the other religious. He relies on this in his defense of the early history of Islam and of the peculiarities of Islamic tradition and the challenges of Quranic interpretation. I am far more interested in the historical aspect of any religion than I'll ever be in its theology, and Reza Aslan proves to be thought-provoking at best. Tenets of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity mingled with native paganism, and this amorphous mix congealed into a kind of henotheism, where tribes acknowledged a panoply of gods but reserved their highest respect for one or another particular god. We believe in God, and in that which has been revealed to us, which is that which was revealed to Abraham and Ismail and Jacob and the tribes [of Israel], as well as that which the Lord revealed to Moses and to Jesus and to all the other Prophets. ________ Reverend William Spooner was famous for a type of funny verbal mistake that became known as a (n) _____ . People might make the same arguments for why pantheism isn't strictly a form of theism as they do deism. The story he tells begins in the Arabian desert during the pre-Islamic era of the sixth century AD. Aslans Particular Brand of Islam. No! His strategy is to document the history of Islam, describe inner tensions within that historical context, and relate the resulting picture to current conditions, in a manner that is neither reckless nor misleading. An easily read, clear account of the origins of Islam and its subsequent evolution into a religion with millions of followers. User-submitted reviews on Amazon often have helpful information about themes, characters, and other relevant topics. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross has recently published a memoir titled My Year Inside Radical Islam (Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2007). Someone recommended this book and it turned out to be a great choice. That year, 622 C.E., will forever be known as Year 1 A.H. (After Hijra); and the oasis that for centuries had been called Yathrib will henceforth be celebrated as Medinat an-Nabi: The City of the Prophet, or more simply, Medina., The Shiah believe that salvation requires the intercession of Muhammad, his son-in-law Ali, his grandsons Hasan and Husayn, and the rest of the Prophets legitimate successors, the Imams, who not only serve as humanitys intercessors on the Last Days, but who further function as the eternal executors (wali) of the divine Revelation., The word Imam has multiple connotations. Second, paradoxically, authors of books and magazine articles, bloggers, and interviewees on radio and television bombard us with perspective. This cornucopia of informants is a mixed blessing, however. Published last summer, the book serves as an essential resource to at least two groups: Christians who desire to share their faith with Muslims and Muslims interested in investigating the claims of Christianity. 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