English Ebook 3 Islam and Muslims

In the Name of God
Most Merciful and Compassionate

ZHIC Introduction to Islam Book Series
Islam and Muslims: A Tapestry of Faith: Samah Marei

© Zayed House for Islamic Culture 2014
Published by
zayed house for islamic culture
p.o. box 16090, al-ain, united arab emirates
tel +971 3 7089999 fax +971 3 7810633
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ISBN 978-9948-15-703-8
Commissioned by Zayed House for Islamic Culture, UAE.

Produced by Razi Group, Canada, under the supervision
of Tabah Foundation, UAE.
all rights reserved. Aside from fair use, meaning a few pages or
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All information is correct as of November 2009, but ZHIC does not
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Printed in UAE
SECOND EDITION 2014
Al-Ain, UAE
acknowledgments
All praise is due to God, Lord of us all. This book could not have been
written without the support and encouragement of my family: my
parents, my parents-in-law, my brother, my children, and most of all, my
unfailingly patient and generous husband, Murtada, a true exemplar of
Prophetic character.
I was blessed to work with a team of editors who shared an important

and visionary idea of what we hoped to produce and they considered my
voice and opinion valuable enough to put their all into this project.
Any mistakes are my own and anything that reaches the heart of the
blessed reader is from God.
viii
about zayed house for islamic culture
Zayed House for Islamic Culture (ZHIC) is a specialized independent

institution, affiliated with the Court of the Crown Prince. It was founded
on the vision of the late UAE Ruler, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan,
and was officially inaugurated in 2005 by HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed
Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi.
ZHIC focuses on promoting Islamic culture, and building bridges

between diverse ethnicities. The institution welcomes new Muslims and
individuals interested in learning about Islam and Islamic culture. ZHIC
has developed specialized educational programs to educate new Muslims
in several languages, providing them the vision and direction they need to
integrate into society. Additionally, it offers special programs in Qur√¥nic
memorization and Arabic language, ¤ajj services, a public library, and
other social activities such as cultural and theme-based trips and sports.
about sheikh zayed
Sheikh Zayed was born in 1918 in the city of

Al-Ain and spent most of his childhood there.
In 1971, after a number of successful years as
Ruler of Abu Dhabi, he assumed the leadership
of the newly founded United Arab Emirates,
a federation of seven emirates, including the
capital, Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Zayed guided the
UAE through profoundly changing times,
bringing wealth, education, and opportunity
to a region that had seen hardship for a
number of decades. He was beloved by his
people and nation and was influential in
promoting a culture of co-existence, tolerance, and mutual respect in the
UAE. Sheikh Zayed passed away in 2004 and is buried next to the Grand
Mosque of Abu Dhabi, named after him. He was succeeded by his eldest
son, HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
ix
a message from zayed house for islamic culture
Over the past few decades globalization has connected people with one
another more than ever before leaving many with questions and curiosity
about other religions, ethnicities, and cultures. In recent years, this sense
of curiosity has been directed towards the religion of Islam and Muslims.
As such, Zayed House for Islamic Culture strives to be an institute that

leads the way to bridge the gaps of understanding between societies and
cultures. It is our aim to provide effective cross-cultural initiatives that
help people better appreciate and understand one another. Part of these
efforts is developing contextual and relevant works introducing the world
to the religion of Islam, and its more than one billion adherents.
Zayed House for Islamic Culture is pleased to present the Introduction

to Islam Series —works that present unique perspectives on one of
the most misunderstood people of our time. The series is based on
comprehensive media research to ensure they address the distinctive
challenges of our age.
Zayed House would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Tabah
Foundation (UAE) and Razi Group (Canada) for their tireless efforts in
making this unique and innovative project an unqualified success. We
hope the works in this series prove beneficial in informing readers about
the realities of Islamic principles, and the Muslim people. This small
effort is a start at building bridges of understanding, goodwill, and a
prosperous co-existence.
Zayed House for Islamic Culture

xi
about the author
Samah Marei is the creator of The Whole Story, a diversity training

initiative that works with governmental and private sector organizations.
She sits on the board of The Cortoba Foundation which aims to
encourage Muslims to engage artistically and constructively within their
civic environments. She is also an educational consultant for Razi Group.
Samah received her degree in History from UCLA in 1996. She has also
spent several years in the Middle East studying Semitic languages and
culture and has been recently commissioned to write and edit a college
textbook on diversity. She currently resides in Niagara on the Lake,
Canada with her husband and children.
xii
transliteration key
‫ا‬/‫آ‬/‫ی‬ ¥
‫ب‬ b
‫ت‬ t
‫ث‬ th
‫ج‬ j
‫ح‬ ^
‫خ‬ kh
‫د‬ d
‫ذ‬ dh
‫ر‬ r
‫ز‬ z
‫س‬ s
‫ش‬ sh
‫ص‬ |
‫ض‬ \
‫ط‬ ~
‫ظ‬ ·
‫ع‬ ¢
‫غ‬ gh
‫ف‬ f
‫ق‬ q
‫ك‬ k
‫ل‬ l
‫م‬ m
‫ن‬ n
‫ه‬ h
‫و‬ w/‰
‫ي‬ y/Ï
‫ة‬ a
‫ء‬ √
‫أ‬ a
‫إ‬ i
xiii
formulaic arabic expressions
s (ßalla-ll¥hu ¢alayhi wa sallam) an invocation of God’s blessings and

peace upon the Prophet Muâmmad: “God’s blessings and peace be
upon him.”
e (¢Alayhis-sal¥m) an invocation of God’s blessings and peace upon a

Prophet or an Angel: “May peace be upon him.”
f (¢Alayhimus-sal¥m) an invocation of God’s blessings and peace upon

three or more Prophets: “May peace be upon them.”
g (Ra\iyall¥hu ¢anhu) an invocation of God’s pleasure with a male

Companion of the Prophet: “May God be pleased with him.”
j (Ra\iyall¥hu ¢anh¥) an invocation of God’s pleasure with a female

Companion of the Prophet: “May God be pleased with her.”
l (Ra\iyall¥hu ¢anhum) an invocation of God’s pleasure with the

Companions of the Prophet: “May God be pleased with them.”
CONTENTS
About this Series 1
Preface 3
Introduction 6

Part I: The Core of Islam
chapter one Allah 12
chapter two Muâmmad s 22
chapter three The Qur√¥n 32
chapter four Islamic Teachings 40
Photo Essay: Worship 50
Part II: The Embodiment of Islam

chapter five The Living Example 56
chapter six Successors and Caesars:
Islam after the Prophet s 64
chapter seven Photo Essay: The Lives of the Faithful 74
Part III: Ideals and Realities

chapter eight English Roses and Dutch Tulips:
Surprising Stories of Islam and the West 82
Photo Essay: Upholding the Trust 94
chapter nine The Twin Halves of Men 98
chapter ten Photo Essay: Islam and Culture 106
chapter eleven Justice and Peace in Islam 114
chapter twelve Photo Essay: Muslims Today—
Demographics and Culture 116
chapter thirteen Islam and the Modern World 125
Notes 138
Glossary of Terms 142
Bibliography 146
Image Credits 150
ABOUT THIS SERIES 1
ABOUT THIS SERIES

This book series is the fruit of multi-disciplinary collaborative efforts
intended to intrigue and fascinate readers while clarifying the teachings
of Islam as they are understood by Muslims. Its emphasis is on providing
an informative perspective to global readers on Islam and Muslims in the
contemporary world. The books of the series are conceptually designed
to explain the belief system and outlook of Muslims from within and
they are editorially produced to inform and stimulate readers from other
cultures and religions with little or no knowledge about Islam. Although
the series is based on exhaustive research, it is committed to imparting
information through an accessible and lucid approach.
Thus far the series has produced one book. The first of these is Islam and
Muslims: A Tapestry of Faith, a novel introduction to Islam whereby the
aesthetics of photographic representation go hand in hand with insightful
content. The first book is to be followed by two additional books, Spread
by the Word: Common Questions about Islam and Muslims is an
intriguing journey through the landscape of some of the most widespread
misunderstandings and unquestioned perceptions about Muslims and
their faith today; and by a book about the Prophet of Islam s.
Preface 3
Preface
I have spent the last several years as a professional diversity trainer.
My job is to present workshops on cultural competence and help
organizations with specific issues of potential or actual cultural clashes.
When giving examples, I intentionally avoid using my religion so as
to maintain a professional distance from the subject. But invariably,
almost without exception, every presentation I give in the private sector
or public, large groups or small, leads to an audience-led torrent of
questions about Islam. Fearing accusations of proselytism, I try to steer
the discussion back on track only to find audience members lingering
around my podium long after the presentation is over.
My attempt in the next few pages is to answer the questions I have heard,
and had myself, over the years as a Muslim growing up in America and
as an American traveling the Muslim world. When I began writing, I
wasn’t fully convinced that the “market” could bear another book about
Muslims, but between news headlines and daily interactions, I was
reminded over and again of a gulf of understanding that exists; a gulf
that narrows in some landscapes and continues to widen dishearteningly
in others. Also despite this abundance of literature on Islam, I continued
to encounter major misconceptions about the faith; still casually existing
all around without the slightest urge of political correctness or fact-
checking. From a misconception as simple as that Islam is fascist ideology
centered on world-domination to the idea that Islamic teachings call for
the persecution of women—all such ideas are too familiar.
Previous books seem to have addressed the needs of some questioners,

and not others. What is attempted here is a presentation of the Islam
4 ISLAM AND MUSLIMS: A TAPESTRY OF FAITH
that Muslims discuss with other Muslims. The shorthand facts and
understanding that inform the behavior of adherents to this religion. It is
not a work of persuasion; it is not a work of apology. Nor is it a detached
scholarly tome about a subject from which the author has a healthy arms-
length relationship. After all, this is my religion I’m talking about.
In this book, I intentionally fall into a trap of language: using the terms
The West, The Islamic World, or Muslims as though any of these are
describable monoliths. I am forced to make generalizations that I would
normally exhort others to avoid, but here they are unavoidable. It is
hoped that the reader will understand that billions of people, even if they
live in the same place or adhere to the same general tenets cannot all be
lumped together accurately, nor can they each be described individually
in a book this size.
The Muslim world has been watching and learning about the culture and
values of the West for decades. The faces and images broadcast around
the world are highly controlled; made-up, properly-lit, and photoshopped
beyond recognition. They portray a beautiful, peaceful world that anyone
would be mad to question.
Here you will also find images selected by Muslims to represent themselves.
The faces and features that we immediately recognize as our own—not
the violent caricatures that we have been force-fed for too long. The
photographs are chosen to harmoniously fit this understanding. The
book endeavors to open a photographic window allowing Muslims to
be transparently seen the way they are, and the way they see themselves;
complex and diverse, not always angry, not always boxed in a world of
complaints, and certainly not one-dimensional. It offers an account of the
here-and-now of the humanity of Muslim life; at parts complementing
the text, at others leaving words behind and expressing more than
they ever can. The pictorial selection and commissioning relied upon a
new generation of talented photographers, Muslims and non-Muslims,
with creative and sharp lenses for an undetached capturing of beauty,
atmosphere, and detail.
The face of Islam that we most commonly see today is the face of a
community under siege. It is the reaction of a faction that has left their
valuables unattended to go fight a haphazard battle against invading
armies, real or imagined. The good news is that there are level heads
that have stood watch over the valuables entrusted to them; over the
Preface 5
core beliefs, values, and practices that are the lifeblood of the Muslim
community. The Divine revelation is in their safe keeping. These people
exist, I have met them, and they are optimistic.
There is a generation of us, culturally adrift, who have grown up

geographically removed from Muslim-majority countries and who are in
a unique position to present our religion. We are able to denude the faith
from the cultural trimmings that sometimes enrich the local practice
of religion, but just as often keep it stagnant, mired in the ideas of a
particular time and place. Growing up in California, my culture was
essentially the culture of older siblings, cousins, and friends. What they
deemed right was. Religion was something our parents practiced, but did
not much interfere in our lives. When we decided to learn our religion,
we could do so intentionally; nothing in our adopted land forced, or even
encouraged us to do so. Those of us who pursued our religion faced the
challenges of authenticity. Whose “Islam” was correct? With no pope-
like figure to turn to, we faced a crisis of authority.
This crisis lead me to the heartlands of Islam; again, a term I use loosely
as I found there are some aspects of my religion that I can practice more
completely in supposed un-Islamic lands. I was able to apply my Western
education to the study of ancient and modern texts. Not knowing the
rules of engagement, I was able to ask the questions that many of the
natives had either never needed answered or did not think it appropriate
to ask. Though I committed virtually every cultural faux-pas possible,
I gained an understanding of my religion that I don’t think would have
been possible without my Western upbringing. This book is an attempt at
conveying what I learned.
samah marei
Introduction
This book attempts to present the ideals of Islam without idealizing
Muslims. Muslims fall on all points of the vertical and horizontal
spectrum. Some combine the outward practices with an abhorrent inner
state; unfortunately, these are the ones we have become most familiar
with: the ones who praise God as they take yet another life. Some
embody the spirit that the Prophet Muâmmad s preached but may not
adhere to the letter that he taught. There are those with neither the spirit
nor the letter, but tenaciously hold on to the one affirmation that there
is no God but Allah and Muâmmad is His Messenger. And of course
there are those who unite the inward and the outward teachings of the
religion. These people exist, despite the self-imposed veils that cover
their beauty.
This book does not attempt to portray every single individual Muslim,
nor is it possible to do so. This is why the work begins with The Core of
Islam, which introduces the core beliefs of Muslims. Without getting into
doctrinal specifics, the basic tenets are presented succinctly and with an
emphasis on those details that set Muslims apart from others. Not every
belief that a Muslim has is unique to the religion. But while enumerating
all the commonalities may be helpful for interfaith dialogue and allaying
suspicions, it is less so for explaining identity.
The section titled The Embodiment of Islam puts these core beliefs in a
historical context. Presented here is the expansive history of the Muslim
world, from a small band of believers who seemed to teeter on extinction
to an empire more expansive than any the world had known. Highlighted
are the pivotal moments of Islamic history looking from the inside out.
The Western world plays a small role here, but only the moments of
significant interaction are detailed.
Finally, after the glories of the Islamic empire and its accomplishments
led to the inevitable, what happened? We delve into the questions
that continue to arise in part three, Ideals and Realities. Every time
these questions seem to be on the verge of being laid to rest, another
headline accosts us, questioning the previous defenses and explanations.
Many have complained that Muslims cannot speak honestly and
objectively about their religion; that they become defensive and defend
the indefensible. Anyone who has been privy to the lively debates
and discussions happening all over the world at Islamic universities,
seminaries, and dinner tables knows how far that is from the truth. No
one has been injured more by the ills in the Islamic world than Muslims
themselves. We know how far the images are from reality, and we know
how truly untenable some untelevised realities are. We know our religion
and what it has bequeathed to humanity and we find ourselves screaming
against the wind at the barrage of images: “This is not our religion!”
Muslims—again the generalization—believe their religion requires no

adornment, no spin. It needs simply to be presented without the ugly
barnacles of historical prejudice and modern distortions. Despite the
immense diversity of the mosaic of Muslim backgrounds and experiences,
it is my great hope that if any Muslims from any such background or
experience do happen upon this book, they will affirm that yes, this is
my religion, this is us.
PART ONE
THE CORE OF ISLAM
CHAPTER ONE
Allah
After a brilliant lecture about women in Islam, a capable Muslim lecturer
began fielding questions. She had the audience laughing, gasping, and
wiping away tears as if on cue. But her answer to the final question of
“Why do you wear the scarf?” was the one that her listeners carried with
them long after they left.
Her answer was simple yet poignant: “Because I believe God wants
me to.”
What was most striking about the unapologetic nature of such

an anachronistic answer was the person who voiced it. Here was
someone with a superior intellect who was known to weigh each
word and thought carefully and critically. She was then at the top of
her class in medical school; she is now one of the top physicians in
her field. In other words, this woman was no simpleton. With every
intellectual tool at her disposal, the guiding principle in her life was
the unwavering belief in the existence of and her communication with
her Divine Creator.
Most rules and rituals in Islam make sense and can be explained logically,
such as the prohibition of alcohol, gambling, and other vices. But the
motivation behind every act of worship—a category much broader than
one expects nowadays—is one: God. At a time when the non-existence
of a Supreme Being is deemed a prerequisite for sophisticated or scientific
conversation, Muslims continue to assert, not merely the existence of
their Lord, but His very centrality in everything they do. God says in the
Five times a day Muslims face the Ka¢ba in prayer. Muslims believe that it was
built by Prophet Abraham and his son, Ishmael d for the worship of the One God.
Qur√¥n:  All that is in the heavens and the earth magnifies God; He is
the All-Mighty, the All-Wise  (59:24).
TAW±¬D: THE ONENESS OF GOD

The most central tenet of belief in Islam, the oneness of God—
taw^Ïd—is at once the simplest and most profound. The belief in taw^Ïd
is the essence of what it means to be a Muslim and goes far beyond
mere acknowledgment that God is One. While questions and lengthy
discussions abound regarding the specific practices within the religion,
taw^Ïd can be succinctly presented by one of the shortest chapters
in the Qur√¥n:  Say: “He is God, the One. God, the Eternally Self-
Subsisting. He does not beget nor is He begotten. And there is none like
unto Him.”  (112:1–4).
Chapter One: Allah 15
Taw^Ïd is the defining characteristic of identity in the community of

believers. All of the other more visible signs of Islam are secondary at
best. Someone who attests to taw^Ïd and falls into sin is still a Muslim.
Someone who spends the day fasting and the night in prayer but believes
in a multiplicity of Gods (or the possibility that God does not exist) is
not. Muslims are often asked to disavow other Muslims who commit
horrific crimes against humanity. Much to the disappointment of the
questioner, excommunication of someone who attests to the oneness of
God is nearly impossible, no matter how abhorrent that person may be.
His or her awaited judgment is another matter altogether.
God or Allah?
According to Islamic belief, this message of the absolute oneness of God
is the point of all religion in general and most certainly of Islam. As the
final revelation, Islam has never challenged the existence or validity of
past Prophets. More importantly, Muslims have never viewed the God of
the Old and New Testaments as a Being distinct from Allah, the Divine
Creator of the world. Discussions about “our God” versus “their God”
make absolutely no sense in a true monotheistic view. Allah is not the
captain of a competing team, but the same God who rescued the children
of Israel from Pharaoh, the same God Who inspired David e with his
Psalms, and the same God to Whom Jesus e referred when he said: “My
doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me.” (john 7:16)
ISLAM = submission, [to God]

MUSLIM = one who testifies to the Oneness of God and to the Prophethood
of Muâmmad s
Questions arise around the differences between the terminologies: is

Allah really the same as God? Once again, as monotheists, this point is
moot as there is only one Being to which the name of the Divine can be
attached. But a lexical examination proves that the words are even more
similar and interchangeable than what a casual translator would express.
The Semitic word Allah is a contraction of Al: the (definite article) and
ilah: one who is worshipped in truth. It is the same—both in meaning
and root—of the Hebrew Elohim and the Aramaic Alaha. The present-
day English word “God” goes back long before the King James Bible. Its
roots lay in the proto-Indo-European Ghuto, meaning: the one who is
called upon in prayer.1
Universal Message
Unlike sects or cults that limit the number of those saved to those who
have officially signed onto a specific charter, Muslims have no problem
recognizing the existence of monotheists of other traditions. The more
research that is conducted on ancient tribal religions, the more it
becomes clear that even micro-religions that were once deemed purely
animistic or pantheistic had an unswerving recognition of a Supreme
Being upon Whom they called. 2 For the Muslim, this is no surprise.
Nor is it troubling to find those who worshiped Allah long before the
Prophet Muâmmad s was born. In fact, it reinforces an understanding
that—in the broadest sense—everyone is muslim (someone who submits
to God). Everyone at a critical point in their past affirmed their servitude
to God. An active Muslim is distinguished by his or her continued fidelity
to that original pledge. God says:  And when your Lord took from the
children of Adam, from their loins, and made them testify, “Am I not
your Lord?” They said: “Yes, we do testify!”—lest you should say on
the Day of Resurrection: “As for us, we were heedless of this.”  (7:172).
Allah’s Attributes
Islam is painstakingly precise when it comes to defining the acceptable

parameters of monotheism. Muslims may feel common ground with the
majority of the world’s faith communities by sleuthing and finding that—
at the root of it all—the religion in question does acknowledge and revere
one Supreme Creator. However, any addendums or postscripts to that
fact are considered absolutely unacceptable.
Islam parts ways with other religions around the negating attribute of
dissimilarity. Islamic theology teaches that not only is God one, but He is
absolutely dissimilar to any and all of His creation. God says:  There is
nothing like Him and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing  (42:11).
Michelangelo apparently wrestled with this when painting the Sistine

Chapel in Rome. Though the first scene chronologically, he delayed
painting the story of Creation to the end—hesitating before depicting
God until he had gained more experience with a brush. Though in
the end any depiction at all is unacceptable to Muslims, it is telling
that this master artist felt himself unequal to the task. Perhaps it was
a subconscious memory of his own covenant. He may have found the
The ninety-nine names of Allah are inscribed around the mihrab wall of the
Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi, UAE
answer to his unasked question in the words of an accomplished Muslim

poet when he was asked to describe the Divine Essence:
Clearness without water. Gentleness without breeze.

Light without fire. Soul without body. 3
Though completely unique and dissimilar to creation, Allah is not remote

or unknowable. In fact, according to the earliest and most authoritative
Qur√¥nic exegete, in the verse:  I have only created jinn and mankind
that they may worship Me  (51:56), the phrase, “may worship Me”
means “to know Me.” Allah is not only knowable, but wants to be
known. He urges His believers to observe the signs around them, to use—
not hamstring— their intellects in order to reach Him.
We shall soon show them Our signs in the furthest regions of the earth,
and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the
Truth  (41:53)
The Names of Allah

There is no priesthood in Islam. Worshippers call upon Allah daily and
directly without intermediary. Among the ninety-nine known names of
Allah, there are many contrasting pairs: The First and the Last and the
Giver of Life and the Giver of Death. But though one of the names is the
Close, there is no name depicting distance. Rather, Allah says: We are
nearer to him than the jugular vein  (50:16).
These ninety-nine names revealed through the Prophet Muâmmad s

are not intended to limit Allah’s attributes of perfection, but to help the
believer gain a deeper understanding of the Divine Reality. These names
are in no way separate from Allah Himself. He is at once the Judge
and the Just, the Avenger and the Pardoner. The supreme name, Allah,
encompasses all of these meanings and more. The attribute He Himself
asserts time and time again is the All-Merciful (al-Ra^m¥n). Nearly
every single chapter in the Qur√¥n is fronted with the formula: In the
name of Allah Most Merciful and Compassionate.
Allah’s Mercy
It is no accident that the attribute of mercy, in Arabic, ra^ma, comes
from the same root as the word for a mother’s womb. The closest human
beings seem able to come to understanding a glimmer of the Divine
The immensity of a mother’s compassion is only a fraction of a fraction of

the Divine Mercy
Mercy is through contemplation of a mother’s care for her young. The

Prophet Muâmmad s once pointed to a nursing mother and asked his
Companions: “Do you think that this woman would throw her child in
the fire?” They said: “No, by Allah she would not, if she is able not to.”
He then said: “Allah the Exalted is more merciful with His slave than
this woman is with her child.”4
Another tradition (âdÏth) reminds that even the immensity of a mother’s

compassion is only a fraction of a fraction of the Divine Mercy. “Allah
has divided mercy into one hundred parts, and He retained with Him
ninety-nine parts, and sent down to earth one part. Through this one
part creatures deal with one another with compassion, so much so that
an animal lifts its hoof over its young lest it should hurt it.”5
The Presence of God in Daily Life

While all practicing Muslims see God as the focus of their lives, there are
those who seek to go beyond mere acknowledgement of His existence.
From the earliest days of Islam, some Muslims, more than others, have
aspired to experience God’s presence in an immediate and lasting way.
These devout worshippers try to perfect their religious devotions. Such
Muslims engage in the rememberance of God throughout their day and
strive in transforming themselves. In seeking the divine pleasure of God,
they seek to purify themselves from their lower egos. In trying to make
themselves worthy of the Divine, they shun any and all actions that do
not draw them nearer to their Beloved. Whatever name they go by, most
simply yearn to be called ¢Abd-All¥h, the servant of Allah.
Egyptian Under 17 soccer players thank Allah after scoring a goal during their
Under 17 Soccer World Cup match against Chile at the Cairo Stadium
CHAPTER TWO
Muâmmad s
Muslims see the story of prophethood throughout history as an ongoing
manifestation of both an eternal truth and a proof of the divine promise
of mercy. The Qur√¥n describes the Prophet Muâmmad s being sent as
a  mercy to the universe . It is fitting that the man chosen to represent
God’s final formal message was one who was so completely governed
by his unswerving clemency. Once asked to curse the disbelievers, he
responded: “I was not sent to curse, but I was sent as one who calls to
God’s way and as a mercy.”6
When given the choice of commanding the absolute destruction of a tribe

that had humiliated him and derided the message he carried, he replied:
“I do not want their destruction. I am still hopeful that Allah will make
some of their children (good Muslims) who will worship Allah, the One,
without associating anyone with Him.”7 His goal was one, the same goal
as all the Prophets sent before him: to deliver the message vouchsafed
to him from God, the same message of taw^Ïd sent with Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Isaac, and with David and others f. His ethos was rooted in
the divine current of mercy. Every action he took as the Messenger of the
All-Merciful was imprinted with this attribute.
A Muslim’s Relationship with the Prophet Mu±ammad s

Most biographies trace the Prophet Muâmmad’s life chronologically.
These are important as they give historical and personal context. But the
timeline of his life — even one that highlights his unprecedented political
and religious achievements— is less important than the description of his
character. For Muslims today, the Prophet Muâmmad s is not a dead
Rows of arches line the Mosque of the Prophet s in Medina

hero who is buried in history and part of the ancient world. His words
and life have immediate resonance and his example is one that is as
relevant today as it was 1400 years ago.
The example of his life is referred to as the Sunna. Though the word
Sunna can apply to the pattern of anything, it has now come to signify
the way the Prophet Muâmmad s did everything from rising in the
morning, to dealing with his family, to treating his enemies. The Sunna
is also used to distinguish between the obligatory actions and those that
are not explicitly necessary but were habits of the Prophet Muâmmad s.
These may include extra cycles of prayer, extra days of fasting, or other
acts of worship. The wise Muslim knows that following the Sunna is not
merely “extra-credit” that can be ignored. The Sunna is a complete and
detailed instruction on how to live one’s life in the best way possible so
as to achieve the ultimate goal of Allah’s good pleasure upon one.
This is perhaps another reason why Muslims appear to stand out so

starkly in modern times. Following the Prophet’s example in acts of
worship is one thing, while emulating the dress and daily habits of a man
from the seventh century seems to boggle the mind. Yet the Muslim who
chooses to live his or her life in accordance to an example set so long ago
recognizes that few of us — if any — truly set our own trends. We are all
emulating someone, some standard of dress. When choosing between
arbitrary and mutable fashion dictates or the example of a man they
believe to be perfection personified, the choice would seem obvious.
Of course, not all Muslims copy every single habit of the Prophet
Muâmmad s. Much of this depends on where one lives and the
subculture one is part of. There is no Muslim uniform. However, those
who follow in the footsteps of their Prophet s do so with the certainty
that there is unseen divine blessing in doing so.
Jesus f And Mu±ammad s

One of the most heart-breaking issues for modern Muslims to deal
with is the personal attacks directed at the man for whom they feel
such profound love. Because the Prophet Muâmmad s lived under
the full spotlight of history, his every action is open to observation and
comment. For Muslims, this is a source of pride. For those who want to
follow even his most mundane habits, this is a God-send. But it also puts
him in a category vastly different than other Prophets who are looked
CHAPTER TWO: MU±AMMAD s 25
The cave of ±ir¥, where the Prophet s first received revelation
at with blurry-lensed indulgence. The most frequent comparison pits

Prophet Muâmmad s against Prophet Jesus e, portraying the former
as a military demagogue for whom spirituality was secondary and the
latter as a weak pacifist who meekly allowed his enemies dominion
over him and his followers. Both descriptions malign these great men.
Equally important, the comparison itself is illegitimate. In the Islamic
concept, though both men were sent by God to convey His message,
the logistics of their missions differed greatly. Muâmmad s, sent as
the final Messenger to all mankind, necessarily had to leave concrete
examples of behavior in nearly all situations. Thus, he married, begot
children, lead his people in both war and peace, lived an ascetic life while
strengthening the economic situation of his people, saw to the needs of
his community—Muslim and non-Muslim— spent his days fasting and
maintained diplomatic ties with foreign entities.
Muslims believe Jesus e is one of the five most revered Prophets of God,
along with Abraham, Noah, Moses, and Muâmmad f. Jesus e, on
the one hand, preached for three years and was sent with a particular
mission to a particular tribe—the children of Israel. Muâmmad s, on
the other hand lived amongst his people as a Messenger, statesman, and
general for decades and was required to show completeness in every one
of these aspects. Both Prophets however, were “men of God” in the truest
sense. They spent every moment contemplating their Divine Creator,
exhorting their followers to adore Him. They forbore the misdeeds of
their enemies unless those attacks sought to defile the laws of God—as
when Jesus e overturned the tables of the usurers in the Temple. Jesus e
taught to turn the other cheek, Muâmmad s taught to return a
misdeed with “that which was kinder.” These two spiritual giants were
brothers. A Muslim who demonstrates full allegiance to Muâmmad s
yet denigrates the memory or teachings of Jesus e, has jeopardized his or
her own religion.
“Both in this world and in the hereafter, I am the nearest of all people to
Jesus, the son of Mary. The Prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are
different, but their religion is one.”
—Imam al-Bukh®r¬, ßa^Ï^ al-Bukh¥rÏ
Below are some of the more well-known stories and accounts of the life
of the Prophet Muâmmad s that are known throughout the Muslim
world. They are recounted in poetry and prose and reflect an image of
the man Muslims love and venerate. These examples are not just “nice
stories”; they are foundational. They are the brushstrokes that paint the
picture of a man honored with God’s final message to all creation.
Empathy and benevolence

¢®√isha j, the Prophet’s young wife, said that he never struck anybody,
neither a servant nor a woman, but he did fight in the cause of Allah.
He never avenged any wrong done to him personally, but he did avenge a
wrong violating divine commandments.
Ghawrath b. al-±¥rith, one of the Meccan enemies, came to assassinate

the Prophet s as he sat alone under a tree. Seeing him, the Prophet s
remained where he was until the man was standing over him with his
sword unsheathed. He asked the Prophet s: “Who will protect you
One of the most celebrated works in Islamic art is the hilye, or physical
description of the Prophet s
from me?” He replied: “Allah.” The man’s sword fell from his hands
in surprise and the Prophet s rose, picked it up, and turned it on
him, saying: “Who will protect you from me?” “Punish me in the best
manner,” Ghawrath replied. The Prophet s dropped the sword and
pardoned him. Returning to his co-conspirators, Ghawrath announced:
“I have come to you from the best of people!”8
Generosity
J¥bir b. ¢Abdull¥h g, one of the Prophet’s Companions, related: “The
Messenger of Allah s was not asked for anything to which he said no.”
A man once came to him asking for charity. The Prophet s told
him: “I do not have anything, but buy something on my account and
when I get some money, I will pay for it.” ¢Umar g, one of his closest
Companions, protested: “Allah has not obliged you to do what you are
unable!” Another Companion from Medina countered: “O Messenger
of Allah! Spend and do not fear reduction of means from the Master
of the Throne!” The Prophet s, pleased with this, responded: “Thus
was I commanded.”9
Humility
¢®√isha j said: “There was no one with a better character than the
Messenger of Allah s. Whenever any of his Companions or the people of
his household called him, he would reply: ‘At your service!’”10
When a delegation arrived from Ethiopia, the Prophet s got up to

serve them. His Companions protested, saying: “Let us do that for
you.” He demurred and replied: “They were generous and honored our
Companions, so I want to do the same for them.”11
Anas g, a man who chose to serve the Prophet s rather than return to
his own people from whom he had been captured during a war, related
that the Prophet s used to ride a donkey with a well-worn saddle and
would never refuse the invitation of slaves. He would be invited to eat
rancid food and would graciously accept such invitations.12
When his Companions used to call him: “O Best of Creation,” he would

demure forcefully and say: “That [title] is for Abraham.”13
The Mosque of the Pledge, recently discovered, on the eastern side of the Valley of
Mina is where the Prophet s received the oath of allegiance from the tribes of Medina
Forbearance and Ease

The Prophet Muâmmad s advised a poor man who had committed a
minor crime to give alms to the poor as a penance for what he did. As
the man was telling the Prophet s that he did not have anything to give
away, a basket of dates was brought into the Mosque by someone as
a gift for Muâmmad s. The Prophet s, who was known to keep no
surplus of food in his own home, gave the basket to the poor man and
suggested that he use those dates to distribute to the poor. The man
replied that he didn’t know anyone who was poorer than he was. At this,
Muâmmad s laughed and suggested that the man give the dates to his
own family as his penance.14
Just For Good Measure

When the Prophet s reentered Mecca after a bloodless victory, he did
so with a huge assembly of his Companions. As they neared the city, he
noticed a dog nursing her puppies on the side of the road. Fearing that
she would be disrupted by the incoming troops, he designated one of his
generals to stand watch and protect her as the contingent passed.
CHAPTER THREE
The Qur√¥n
And We send down of the Qur√¥n, that which is a healing and a mercy
to the believers  (17:82)
The love, veneration, and attempt to emulate the Prophet of Islam s

have never blinded Muslims to the earthly center of their religion. The
Qur√¥n—God’s standing miracle—unquestionably holds that rank. The
weight of the ±adÏth is secondary to the weight and indisputability of the
Qur√¥n. Before laying a hand on the cover of a Qur√¥n, a Muslim must
have the same ritual purity required to perform the prayers. As the final
revelation, the Qur√¥n is a culmination of all the previous revelations sent
to humankind and is meant to address every single individual until the
Final Hour.
The Word of God

The words of the Qur√¥n have been faithfully preserved in the form in
which they were originally received, even down to the minutest points
of detail. Originally the words were memorized orally; with a limited
number of appointed scribes recording the verses in writing and reciting
them back to the Prophet Muâmmad s. Under the Caliphate of
¢Uthm¥n g (the third leader of the Muslims after the passing of the
Prophet s), the recorded verses were collected between two covers, and
official copies were made and dispatched to the ends of the Islamic empire.
The copies now found in every mosque of every corner of the earth, in
every Muslim home, contain the exact same wording as those original,
official copies.
A page from the Qur√¥n, dating back to the Mamluk Dynasty

The Qur√¥n is often referred to as the Muslim Bible. This is a legitimate

comparison only in the sense that both the original Old and New
Testaments are considered, with the Qur√¥n, to be sacred texts. However,
a more illuminating comparison can be made between the sacredness
of the Qur√an and the person of Jesus e. Just as Christians see Christ
as the Word of God manifest, so do Muslims believe the Qur√¥n is
the direct Word of God.15 Just as Mary was pure and untouched when
the Angel Gabriel e presented the annunciation, so was the Prophet
Muâmmad s — the vessel of the Qur√¥n — pure and unlettered when
the Angel Gabriel e first appeared to him, commanding him to recite.
The Language of the Qur√®n

The Qur√¥n continued to be revealed to the Prophet Muâmmad s over the
next twenty-three years. As it was revealed, it was recited to his Companions
and memorized immediately. These were Arabs with a strong oral tradition
for whom memorizing and reciting long passages after only a single hearing
was a skill even children possessed. It was partly this oral tradition and the
elevated status of poetry— of the word itself—that allowed this particular
segment of mankind at that particular time in human history to be best
suited to grasp the miraculous nature of the Qur√¥n.
Part of Allah’s mercy is that the argument and proof of His existence
defies neither logic nor the leaning of the heart. Every Prophet was sent
with signs bearing the stamp of his Patron. To facilitate belief, these signs
were often in the form of whatever skill the receiving community excelled
at and would recognize as miraculous. When sent to Pharaoh and his
people, Moses e was given the ability to outstrip even the greatest
magicians of the day. And Jesus e was given the ability to exceed any
contemporary healers.
Similarly, the pre-Islamic Arabs were unmatched in their oratory skills.

Poets were held in great esteem and were extremely influential because
of their mastery of the spoken word. They acted as the historians,
propagandists, and spokesmen of their tribes. Historian Philip K. Hitti
writes: “The Arabic odes surpassed even the Iliad and the Odyssey
in metrical complexity and elaborateness. Rich in animated passion,
expressed in forceful and compact language.”16
When the Qur√¥n was revealed to these devotees of the word, the
response was passionate. Those who insisted on the old ways— on the
CHAPTER Three: the qur√®n 35
Technological applications are used to empower the relevance of the Qur√¥n in

modern times
worship of the hand-hewn idols—were counseled to stuff their ears

lest they accidentally hear the words and fall under their enchantment.
The Qur√¥n employed none of the highly stylized poetic tricks of the
time, and yet was far superior to anything even their greatest poets had
constructed. Grammatically flawless, it is still used to this day as the
basis of teaching perfect Arabic. This, from an unlettered man who was
known not to ever have uttered a single line of poetry, was unfathomable.
For many, this was reason enough to forfeit any doubt as to its divine
authorship. But, just as the Virgin Mary was charged with being an
unchaste woman, so too are there some who attempt to lay accusations
as to the “real” sources of the Qur√¥n.
Reading the Qur√¥n in English or in any language other than the original
Arabic does not give the reader the full majesty of the book. More
than any other text, content and container are indivisible. Hundreds of
books have been written on the linguistic miracles of the Qur√¥n. These
formulas that are thrilling in Arabic cannot possibly be translated in any
other language without extensive commentary. This is why translations
are looked at as commentary tools to help aid in understanding, but are
not “versions” of the Qur√¥n as some have mistakenly assumed. Muslims
have been uniquely successful in preserving the integrity and authenticity
of their holy script. This is in keeping with the divine promise: It is We
who have sent down the Remembrance, and We watch over it  (15:9).
Translations exist in nearly every language, but a translation is not

considered a Qur√¥n and does not have the same inviolability as the
Arabic text. Having said all of the above, any non-Arabic speaking person
who has read the Qur√¥n in translation will attest to its beauty and power;
perhaps another indication of its miraculousness.
A Message of Mercy
When the All-Merciful sends a message through the Prophet of Mercy,
it is fair to expect the message itself to be one of mercy. God says: We
have not revealed unto you (Muâmmad) this Qur√¥n to make you
distressed  (20:2).
Though this verse was addressed to the Prophet Muâmmad s, it

has universal application to its readers. Like the original Gospels,
the Qur√¥n is a book of glad tidings for the believers. Just as the
Prophet Muâmmad s was sent as a bearer of glad tidings and a
A page from a copy of the Blue Qur√¥n dating back to the ninth century, written
in Kufic Script
warner , so too does the Qur√¥n employ a strident and constant voice
of encouragement and promise. The formula that fronts every chapter
in the Qur√¥n but one:  In the Name of God Most Merciful and
Compassionate , is not superfluous. The Qur√¥n is not a large book. To
spend so much “real estate” repeating a phrase over and over must mean
something.
“For Those Who Think”

The Qur√¥n is a challenge. It is not a book to be read passively. Both its
content and pace compel the reader to be in constant interaction with
its words and meaning. Even those born into the Islamic community are
not given a free pass. God challenges His creation — literate and illiterate,
modern and ancient— to come to faith through the faculties of sight,
reason, and humble acknowledgement of intuition.
When the Qur√¥n speaks of the perfection of creation, it is not referring

to a world that each individual would find to his or her exact liking. That
remains for the next realm. It is referring to the teetering exactitude of the
entire cosmos all conspiring to allow humans even a single breath, to the
exact position of the sun that is neither too far such that the earth would
freeze, nor too close such that the planet would be charred. God says: It
is He Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon; all
(the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course  (21:33).
God also says: He let forth the two seas that meet together, between
them a barrier they do not overpass  (55:19–20). This verse is referring
to the invisible barrier that separates salt water from fresh, that allows our
species to survive and thrive. If a single rend was present between these two
bodies, it wouldn’t be long before the world becomes a desert landscape.
The Qur√®n in Daily Life

Reading the Qur√¥n in its entirety is something that is commonly
done throughout the Muslim world on a regular basis. Children begin
memorizing its verses at an early age and the tradition of young men
and women committing the entire Qur√¥n to memory continues today.
When someone moves into a new home, it is common to collect family
and friends and recite all or portions of the Book. When a member of
the community passes away, his or her family will invite participants
to gather, and each will take a chapter of the Qur√¥n to read with the
outcome that an entire reading of the Qur√¥n is gifted to the deceased.
Some chapters or verses are recited for specific occasions. It would be a
singular Muslim wedding where the “marriage” verse was not recited:
And of His signs is this: He created for you mates from your selves that
you might find comfort in them, and He ordained between you love and
mercy. In this are signs for people who reflect  (30:21).
CHAPTER FOUr
Islamic Teachings
Chronologically, one of the first stories related in the Qur√¥n revolves
around instruction. After creating Adam e, Allah began educating him,
teaching him “the names of things.” While significant in a literal sense,
this story also reveals the importance of learning the reality of things, of
distinguishing truth from falsehood. This is a foundational principle of
the Islamic tradition. Being true to “thine own self” means not acting out
absurdly and destructively, but looking at things both within oneself and
in the external world and seeing them as they are, not as one would wish
them to be. The true self is the unadulterated soul that reflects upon its
origin and purpose.
Ja¢far g to Negus g:
O King, we were a people in a state of ignorance and immorality, worshipping

idols and eating the flesh of dead animals, committing all sorts of abomination
and shameful deeds, breaking the ties of kinship, treating guests badly, with
the strong among us exploiting the weak. We remained in this state until
Allah sent us a Prophet, one of our own people, whose lineage, truthfulness,
trustworthiness, and integrity were well-known to us.
He called us to worship Allah alone, and to renounce the stones and the idols
which we and our ancestors used to worship besides Allah.
He commanded us to speak the truth, to honor our promises, to be kind to

our relations, to be helpful to our neighbors, to cease all forbidden acts, to
abstain from bloodshed, to avoid obscenities and false witness, and not to
appropriate an orphan’s property or slander chaste women.
A student at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, writes a paper in the courtyard

of the Mosque
A woman prays during Friday Prayer at Rome’s main Mosque
The Pure Human Being

According to Islam, all human beings from Prophet Adam e to modern
man are born pure in the most perfect of forms  (95:4). Beyond that,
they are prewired for theotropic desires. Just as plants naturally bend
and turn towards the light of the sun, human beings feel “the God-
shaped hole in their heart” that calls them to something greater than
themselves. This state is called fi~ra. God says: So set your face to the
religion, a man of pure faith—God’s original (fi~ra) upon which He
originated mankind  (30:30).
One’s fi~ra is corruptible by its possessor, the role of the Prophets is to

realign humankind’s actions with their original devotion to their Lord.
In a sense, humankind already knows what is being taught, but because
of the temptations that accompany free will, the need to be reminded
of its once-perfect state of devotion remains. Everything in the Islamic
tradition returns to this whether or not it is immediately obvious.
CHAPTER FOUR: ISLAMIC TEACHINGS 43
The absence of original sin means that there is no need for vicarious
atonement. Eternal salvation is granted through the mercy of God. One
becomes a candidate for this mercy through submission to the will and
commands of the Creator.
Active Submission
The word Islam is often translated as submission, and Muslim as one who
submits to the will of God. The problem with this translation is that it
implies a passiveness, a fatalistic resignation. This is far from the Islamic
teaching of submission. But if a Muslim is asked to submit actively, what
does that mean on a day-to-day level? The answer to this question is the
reality that sets Muslims apart in today’s society. Visitors to Muslim lands
or intimate friends of Muslim households notice almost immediately a
difference in the way things operate. Whether witnessed through the
regular pauses throughout the day to perform the obligatory prayers, or
in the Islamic dress code, or when shopping with a Muslim who turns
over an unfamiliar product to make sure its ingredients meet the Islamic
dietary standards, there is a distinct sense that a practicing Muslim’s
life is governed by a multi-layered series of rules and rituals whose reach
extend much further than what is now customarily practiced as religion.
For Muslims, these guidelines are the means for active submission. There
is no action that is considered too paltry or irrelevant to have a ruling
from the Revealed Law applied to it. Because of the exacting level of
authentication of the life of the Prophet of Islam s, Muslims have a
constant and immediate touchstone by which to judge their actions. How
should I treat my spouse? How should I pay my employees? How should
I perform my prayers? A religion that demands submission cannot fairly
leave these questions unanswered. And though only the last query seems
to fall in the realm of what is considered religion, in Islam, the sharp
division between the spirit and the earthly body does not exist. In a sense,
everything is religion.
The teachings however, do not stop with the outward limbs. In fact, the
greatest act of submission is performed by the heart, not the body. The
defining characteristic that must precede all actions is a heart that has
testified to the oneness of God and its servitude to Him. Having done so,
the heart continues its work in a way that gives lubricant to the works
of the body. While the body moves, the heart is quiescent and at peace,
knowing that even with the most proactive motion, the separate identities
of servant and Master can never be breached.
The Pillars of Islam

The landscape of rituals is not flat. Some acts of worship must take
precedence over others. There is a hierarchy that allows for focus on
the essentials and room for growth once those essentials are met. These
central acts of worship are referred to as the five pillars.
THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM

1. Bearing witness that God is One and that Muâmmad is His Messenger
2. The Five Daily Prayers
3. Fasting from dawn to sunset during the month of Rama\¥n
4. Mandatory Alms-giving
5. Pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime if one is able
These five pillars are considered so fundamental, that even more

important than the necessity of performing them, is the canonical
requirement to believe in their necessity. A Muslim may be forgiven for
missing a prayer, but a Muslim who denies the necessity of the prayer
jeopardizes his or her very identity as a Muslim. The unifying condition
behind the validity of these acts is intention. Without intention, someone
abstaining from food and drink all day is simply not eating. The same
action accompanied by intention renders it a religious fast; a potential
candidate for divine reward. The Prophet Muâmmad s explained:
“Many people who fast get nothing from their fast except hunger
and thirst, and many people who pray at night get nothing from it
except wakefulness.”17
The five pillars denote the bare minimum that a practicing Muslim must
perform. Taking from the example of the Prophet's practice whose life
was an ongoing story of worship and devotion, Muslims voluntarily add
many other acts to the list: extra prayers, extra fasts, frequent recitation
of the Qur√¥n, voluntary charity, etc.
Worship Loves Company

Each one of the physical tenets serves not only an obvious spiritual
function, but a societal one as well. In the five daily prayers, worshippers
are encouraged to pray in groups, preferably in a mosque where they
will regularly meet with other worshippers to develop a heightened
sense of community. The Islamic prayer is a very structured one. There
are prescribed movements and invocations at the different positions.

Wherever in the Muslim world you go, you will find Muslims standing
shoulder-to-shoulder following a seemingly choreographed cadence of
prayer, in unison. There may be varying levels of practice or divergent
thoughts on politics, but during those few minutes of collectively
responding to God’s call, all of that is forgotten and discord is replaced
with synchronized harmony.
The person fasting from dawn to sunset every day in Rama\¥n is

reminded with every hunger pang the affluence in which he or she lives,
and when breaking the fast with family and friends becomes more
grateful and—ideally—generous towards those less fortunate. One of the
most beautiful sights in Egypt during Rama\¥n is the distinctive multi-
colored tents set up in open areas under which lie tables weighed down
with every known Egyptian delicacy. These “Tables of the Merciful” are
funded entirely by private citizens who are reminded—especially during
this month—of the absolute delight of food entering a hungry belly.
Non-Muslim visitors join Muslims in the open banquets of breaking the fast
during the month of Rama\¥n in Egypt
The annual almsgiving, called Zakat, has a different quality then mere
charity. Rather than an ostentatious act of generosity, Zakat—which
shares a direct root with the word “purify” — stipulates that a prescribed
2.5 percent of wealth belongs to the poor. A Muslim works and earns
money knowing that a small part of his or her wealth belongs to
someone else. Like the Jewish tzedakah, Zakat is not philanthropy; it is
a duty before God.
A study conducted by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government concluded

that the ±ajj—the Muslim pilgrimage —“increases belief in equality and
harmony among ethnic groups and Islamic sects and leads to more favorable
attitudes toward women, including greater acceptance of female education
and employment.” And these positive feelings were not just directed towards
co-religionists: “Increased unity within the Islamic world is not accompanied
by antipathy toward non-Muslims…”
A Muslim is required at least once in his or her lifetime to make the

pilgrimage to Mecca, the birthplace of Islam and— in the Muslim
narrative—Abrahamic religions. This pillar can be difficult to grasp; the
traveling, the heat, and the sense of claustrophobia involved with being in
such close proximity to millions of strangers. However, everyone who goes
calls it a life-changing event that can only be experienced not described.
Being Religious and Being Good

The Revealed Law divides actions into the two categories of ¢ib¥d¥t,
devotional worship (focused on the five pillars), and mu¢¥mal¥t, civic and
interpersonal transactions. This latter category includes everything from
marriage laws to business transactions.
It is not for nothing that the Arabic word for Revealed Law, Shariah,
literally means the straightest path to water. The Shariah is rooted in the
idea that there is a right way to do things. Based primarily on the Qur√¥n
and Sunna, the Shariah governs both a Muslim’s relationship with God
as well as his or her relationship with the world at large.
The Prophet s addressed the complicated relationship between outward

adherence to the religion and interpersonal relationships. He said: “The
best of you are those who are best to their families.”18 Someone who
spends his or her days and nights in prayer and fasting and neglects to
Nearly two million pilgrims from all quarters of the world join each other in the
life-changing ritual of ±ajj
see to the needs and happiness of his or her family is not someone who
would earn the Prophet’s approbation.
The good manners that are universally and eternally respected are paid
far more than mere lip service in the sacred texts. Vices that currently
seem to plague the Muslim communities and readily appear in the
evening news are afforded an indepth treatment. For example, anger,
Muslims are told, is a diabolic trait. A man once came to the Prophet
Muâmmad s asking for general counsel. He was told: “Don’t get
angry.” He kept repeating his question. Three times the Prophet s
repeated: “Don’t get angry.”19 Books have been written commentating on
this single âdÏth and its value; the evils that would be avoided if it were
followed, and the distorted, apoplectic faces that would be smoothed if
it were observed. The Qur√¥n silent about the merits of anger management.
It praises:  the God-fearing who expend in prosperity and adversity
in almsgiving, and restrain their rage, and pardon the wrongs of their
fellowmen (3:133–134).
The naturally hot-headed are often reminded that this verse does not
praise those who are merely unflappable by nature, but those who—for
the sake of God—suppress the outward demonstrations of their anger.
Religion in general suffers from a bad public relations campaign, and

the Muslim community is by no means excluded from this fallout.
We have come to associate the outwardly religious with abrasive,
judgmental manners, and those who flout religious law as free-spirits
with “good hearts.”
In a âdÏth, we learn about a prostitute whose sins were forgiven by

Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the
dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her
head cover, she drew out some water for it.
For the perceptive Muslim, these are warnings and reminders of the
weight that gentleness and mercy carries in divine judgment, reminders
that outward signs of adherence, the rigid “orthopraxy” which Islam
is accused of, are not true submission. As for those who insist on a
coarse and repellent criticism of all those around them, sour-faced and
disapproving of all but their own actions, the Qur√¥n warns: Shall
We inform you of those who will be the greatest losers by their works?
Those whose effort goes astray in the life of the world, and yet they
reckon that they do good work  (18:104).
The Forbidden Grazing Places

The Prophet Muâmmad s said: “What is permitted is clear and what
is forbidden is clear. Midway between them are things which people do
not know whether they are permitted or forbidden. He who keeps away
from these things will protect his religion and will be saved. He who
approaches them is very near to the forbidden, like a shepherd wandering
his flock near protected grazing land, who could soon enter the forbidden
area, and Allah’s protected area is what He has declared forbidden.”20
Every religion has rules. Islam is not notable in this respect. What is
notable is the integrity of those rules over the centuries. Though not
stagnant (at least not in principle), Islamic law has been preserved
astonishingly well despite every odd stacked against it. On a personal
level, the individual Muslim manages to mimic this ability to keep his
or her religion intact, again, despite incredible odds. The above âdÏth is
The Arabic word for Revealed Law, Shariah, literally means the straightest path
to water
why—for the most part—practicing Muslims do not often experience the

“fall from grace” that prominent figures from other religions do.
Adultery, for example, is immoral in every religion and in nearly all

societies. But in Islamic law, there are safeguards put in place to prevent
reaching the tipping point where suddenly one finds oneself unable to stop.
Aware of the âdÏth’s counsel, a Muslim would choose to avoid

socializing at a bar with non-Muslim friends. Though one may plan to
abstain from alcohol, consistently putting oneself in a situation so close
to the protected grazing land is simply a risk not worth taking. There
is no virtue in standing so close to the flame as to be licked by its heat,
testing one’s strength and tolerance to temptation.
“Abstinence is as easy to me, as temperance would be difficult”

— SAMUEL JOHNSTON
photo essay
WORSHIP:
PROSTRATION, SUPPLICATION, AND CHARITY
Worship in Islam takes endless forms. It is not restricted to religious rituals and
prayers. Almost everything, if done with a proper and sincere intention, can be an
act of worship: from charity, teaching, community work, to helping the needy, and
deploying arts for public good—all can be a form of worship.
Muslims attend prayers at Fatih Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey
Muslims donate new and gently used coats as part of a winter charity campaign.
IMAN: INNER-CITY MUSLIM ACTION NETWORK

Staffed by a full-time administrator, volunteer physicians, and rotating medical
students, the new Health Clinic provides free basic healthcare and education
services to Chicago residents from diverse economic, ethnic, and religious
backgrounds. Over two hundred patients a month visit the clinic to receive
screenings for high blood pressure and high cholesterol, annual physical exams,
and treatment of non-emergency medical conditions.
The Career Center, operated by the IMAN Career Development Initiative (ICDI),
offers a five-week computer literacy program and career development assistance
for residents of the Chicago Lawn community. Participants enrolled in the computer
literacy program learn basic computer operation, from using word processing and
spreadsheet software to conducting an online job search. Also offered is guidance
on completing resumes and job applications, and development of interviewing
skills. Upon successful completion of the program, participants are certified by ICDI
and are eligible for job placement or continuing education assistance. Classes are
offered in English and Spanish seven days a week.
PART TWO
THE EMBODIMENT OF ISLAM
CHAPTER FIve
The Living Example

If the true measure of a religious community is the integrity of its rules
and lifestyles within a divinely prescribed order, then the true Golden Era
of Islam was not that of Andalusian Spain with its unmatched palatial
architecture and landscapes. It was not the era of H¥r‰n al-RashÏd with
the Babylonian majesty of his court. It was not any one of the marked
civilizational achievements of the Muslim world. The true Golden Era
of Islam was the ten year period between 622 and 632 ad when the
Muslims were little more than a small band of believers that could
easily have been a mere footnote in the history of an insignificant piece
of geography.
Seeds of the Ideal

Freed from the daily and violent persecution of the polytheist Meccans,
the Prophet Muâmmad s planted the seeds for the ideal religious
community at the behest of the citizens of Yathrib (later renamed
Medina). Today’s Muslims recognize that this community can never
again be replicated—one of its hallmarks being the live connection to
God through the agency of His Messenger s. At the same time, however,
just as individual Muslims look to the peerless example of the Prophet
Muâmmad s as the template of perfection, so do communities of
believers look at those years as a guide for what the faithful can achieve.
The invaluable, scrupulous, exacting science of âdÏth literature gives

Muslims a detailed account of how the Prophet Muâmmad s and
his Companions lived, worshiped, worked, loved, and died. While, to
many, Old Testament Prophets have become little more than fabled story
Muslims pray the Friday congregational prayer beneath limestone columns and
arches in the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina
characters, the Prophet Muâmmad s continues to be a living example

to Muslims over one thousand years later.
This migration from Mecca to Medina was a turning point in Islamic and
world history. Forced to take on the role of statesman, Muâmmad s no
longer had the luxury of a simply spiritual life and ministry.
Nevertheless, the unswerving focus of the community was on establishing

a society centered on God-consciousness. Upon arrival, the Prophet s
and his Companions began building the Mosque of Medina.
The Prophet s at the Heart

Connected to the small rooms that housed the Prophet’s family, the Mosque
of Medina served not only as the place for congregational prayer but
also as a town hall. Here Muâmmad s would meet with those of his
community who were in need of his guidance or leadership. He would ask
those present to convey to him the needs of those who could not make it.
Here he arbitrated between conflicting parties but warned the disputants
that unlike Divine Judgment, he would only judge based on the evidence
presented. Accounts of Medina describe the constant humming sound
of the Qur√¥n being recited in the courtyard of the Mosque as well as in
house after house. Emulating the tradition of Prophets before him, the
Prophet Muâmmad s kept the Mosque and his home structure simple
by design; the roof of his room kept so low that one’s head would touch it
upon standing.
The migrating Muslims found themselves transformed from a furtive and

abused minority to the welcome teachers of their new homeland. One
of the first acts of administration the Prophet s undertook was a pact
of brotherhood between the immigrants from Mecca and their hosts
in Medina. Each Medinan made a pact to provide whatever material
support his displaced new family required. In return, the veteran
Muslims of Mecca vowed loyalty and provided an instant Islamic identity
to their patrons. In our current individualistic societies, the remarkable
nature of this act often passes without notice, but for this filial pledge to
be enacted and adhered to in a pre-industrial, tribal-based society was
nothing short of a miracle. God says: Remember God’s blessing upon
you when you were enemies, and He brought your hearts together, so
that by His blessing you became brothers  (3:103).
CHAPTER FIVE: THE LIVING EXAMPLE 59
A drawing depicting the Mosque of the Prophet s in Medina, circa 1854
Soon after this pact, another startling piece of legislation was

concluded. Not forgetting that he had been invited to come to Medina
as a peacemaker between the Aws and the Khazraj, and the numerous
Jewish tribes of the area, the Prophet Muâmmad s drew up what is
now known as the Charter of Medina. It effectively established the first
Muslim state and dictated, among other things, the Islamic definition of
Umma, or Community. Now used very exclusively by Muslims to refer to
their coreligionists, the Charter established broadly and inclusively the
inalienable rights of the non-Muslim members of the Prophet’s Umma.
Among these rights were the following:
1. All groups under the charter—Muslim and non-Muslim alike —are

guaranteed a pact of security (dhimma)
2. Non-Muslim members have political and cultural rights equal to
those of Muslims
3. Non-Muslims have sovereignty and freedom of religion
4. If the Medinan state is attacked, non-Muslims will partake in its
defense and share the cost of war
Although Muslims were safer in Medina than they were in Mecca,

the drums of war could still be heard far off. The Meccans were
understandably infuriated by the civic success of the escaped group, and
the tribes of Quraysh began altering their trade routes to pass through
neighboring cities and inciting the Arab tribes around Medina against
the Muslims. The intentions of the Meccans were clear, but the hands of
the Muslims were stayed by the absence of permission to fight. For years,
the verses revealed to Muâmmad s counseled fortitude and patience:
Pardon and forgive until God gives His command  (2:109).21
Pilgrims gather at Mount Arafat where the Prophet s delivered his Final Sermon
CHAPTER FIVE: THE LIVING EXAMPLE 61
Worth noting here is the following point: the foundational principle in Islam
is that violence is not permitted. The primordial state of mankind is one
of peace, but the historically demonstrated response to violence is more
violence. In a time when blood feuds could last for decades, the Muslims
repeatedly had to show patience and tolerance while they witnessed their
families and friends tortured, exiled, and killed. Finally, after thirteen years,
permission to retaliate was granted. But this permission was qualified by a
strict set of ethics and conditions. Never before had the rules for just war and
justice in war been so tightly prescribed.
The Battle of Badr and Beyond: 624 – 632 AD

“O Allah, if this Muslim band will perish today, Thou shall not be
worshipped.”22
After bringing their raids to the very outskirts of Medina, destroying

the fruit trees of the Muslims and carrying away their flocks, a force
of Meccans one thousand strong with seven hundred camels and one
hundred horses approached Medina during the winter of 624 ad. It was
not humanly possible to predict the monumental outcome of this battle.
Few battles have affected every nation on earth in a way that changed
the course of history. Though outnumbered more than three to one, the
Muslims were victorious in this battle, their first test of mettle.
Though the Meccans won the next battle and wounded the Prophet
Muâmmad s, they never recovered from the surprising blow at Badr.
Eight years after immigrating to Medina, Muâmmad and his Companions
returned to Mecca. Having left their homeland with heavy hearts, they
returned as victors.
The Muslims entered the ancestral lands from which they had been
barred for many years with a triumphant return. Yet it was not in
triumph, but in humility, that they rode. Chroniclers describe the Prophet
Muâmmad’s head as bowed so low that his beard nearly touched the
saddle on his camel. At the Ka¢ba, with the citizens of Mecca gathered
before him, the Prophet Muâmmad s asked: “O Quraysh, what kind
of treatment should I grant you?” They replied: “Mercy, O Prophet of
God. We expect nothing but good from you.” Thereupon Muâmmad s
declared: “I speak to you the same words Joseph spoke to his brothers:
‘This day there is no reproof against you’; go your way, for you are
free.”23 One by one, those who had maintained their enmity until only
moments before, came to the Prophet s, hopeful and yet incredulous

that there should be no reprisal.
Muâmmad s spent the remaining few years unifying all of Arabia

under the banner of Islam; many tribes came to Medina to pledge their
allegiance to him. In 632 ad, he was able to lead his Companions in
their first ±ajj pilgrimage to the Ka¢ba in Mecca. After performing the
rites, he gathered his followers, some of whom had been at his side from
the first moments of revelation. Standing before a crowd of one hundred
thousand believers, he delivered his famous Farewell Sermon.
At the completion of his sermon, he raised his head and implored: “O

Lord! Have I conveyed Your message?” And then he added: “Do not
revert after me, becoming as unbelievers, smiting each other’s necks.”24
The Qur√¥nic verse to be revealed next was a verse that the Jews at that
time informed the Muslims to be jubilant about: Today I have perfected
for you your religion, and I have completed My favor upon you and I
have affirmed Islam as your religion (5:3).
Upon hearing this verse, however, ¢Umar g, the fiercest of the

Companions, was found weeping. Those around him were confused.
“What is the matter?” they asked.
“After perfection,” he said, “there is nothing but bereavement.” Months

later, the Prophet s passed away in the arms of his wife, ¢®√isha j.
CHAPTER six
Successors and Caesars:

Islam after the Prophet s
Contemporary Muslims are acutely aware of their history. This is yet

another reason why they are seen as somewhat anomalous in a world where
only the present is relevant. In fact, when a Muslim quotes a saying of the
Prophet Muâmmad s or relates a story about a centuries-dead Muslim
scholar or leader, he or she does so as if he or she was recounting something
that had happened within his or her own lifetime. Another distinction
in the way Muslims view history is that it is not necessarily the story of
inevitable progress and improvement. While no one denies the benefits
of indoor plumbing and the advances of modern medicine, these are not
necessarily the standards by which the story of humankind is to be judged.
This acute awareness of their history has often been seen as the basis
for criticism of Muslims as being backwards. But a firm footing in an
age of spiritual accomplishments does not—and should not—lead to a
technological primitivism. In fact, until very recently, Muslim empires led
the world in scientific progress and civic advancement. Inheriting such a
rich past does, however, impact the way a Muslim views current events.
In the Shade of the Four Giants

Islamic history is often divided into two phases. The first is the age of the
Rightly Guided Successors. These four men were all close Companions of
the Prophet Muâmmad s, combining statesmanship with unswerving
adherence to the principles laid down by their friend and teacher. In
total, their leadership lasted only thirty years. Just like the Prophet s,
the lives of these four men are a source of limitless inspiration, and not
merely historical accounts. With the death of ¢AlÏ g, the empire, which
The name of the first Successor, Ab‰ Bakr g, adorns a medallion in the Hagia
Sofia in Istanbul, Turkey
had then become too large to be called anything else, was taken over by
the Umayyad Dynasty in 661 ad and the leadership of the Islamic world
remained mostly dynastic until the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1924.
After the Prophet s passed away in 632, the leadership of the community
shifted to his closest Companion, Ab‰ Bakr g, who had been a stalwart
ally and defender of the faith from the moment he became the first adult
male to accept the message of Islam. His first crisis came early. Upon
hearing of the passing of their beloved Prophet, the Muslims found
themselves orphaned and distraught, many refusing to believe that
Muâmmad s had passed away. Ab‰ Bakr g, himself heartbroken by
the passing of the man who was not only his teacher but also his dearest
friend, stood and addressed the crowds assembled around the house
of ¢®√isha j. “O people,” he stated, “whosoever thought to worship
Muâmmad, truly Muâmmad has passed away; but whosoever
worships God, know that God is Living and Eternal.”25
Ab‰ Bakr g was next charged with the task of uniting the Arab tribes
that used the passing of Muâmmad s as an excuse to renege on their
treaties. During his two short years of leadership, he was able to quell a
number of insurrections by local tribes, and by the time of his death, the
Islamic world had doubled in size, incorporating the Persian and Eastern
Roman Empires.
The next ten years were years of relative tranquility under the rule of
¢Umar b. al-Kha~~¥b g. During this time, the Islamic empire expanded to
include North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Armenia, and Palestine. According
to Christian chroniclers, ¢Umar g humbly entered Jerusalem, leading
his camel, upon which sat his servant. He was greeted by the Greek
Orthodox Patriarch who gave him the key to the city and led him to
the site of the old Jewish Temple. He found this sacred site covered in
rubbish, which he began removing with his own hands, and ordered a
mosque to be built on it.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem recounts that the time for prayer came
while ¢Umar g was paying respects to the church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Instead of praying in the Church or even in its courtyard as the
Patriarch had invited him to do, ¢Umar g insisted on praying outside
of its precincts so that succeeding generations would not use his prayer
inside the building as a pretext for infringing upon the autonomy of the
CHAPTER SIX: SUCCESSORS AND CAESARS 67
Church. And it was not only Christians who had cause to celebrate the
appropriateness of the sobriquet “¢Umar the Just.” For the first time in
five hundred years, Jews were allowed to return to and live in the vicinity
of the Holy Land, practicing their religion unhindered.
After ¢Umar’s g death at the hands of a Persian assassin, the Caliphate

was assumed by ¢Uthm¥n g after the council of the Prophet’s
Companions nominated him. Under his period in office, the borders of
the Islamic empire were extended from present-day Morocco to Pakistan.
He began sending envoys to various rulers, including the first envoy to
the Tang Dynasty in China, Sa¢d b. AbÏ Waqq¥s g. Though the emperor
Gaozong did not embrace Islam himself, he was sufficiently impressed by
¢Uthm¥n’s g ambassador that he ordered the first mosque to be built in
The Niujie Mosque, built in 996 AD during the Liao Dynasty is the oldest mosque
in Beijing, China
China in 651 and granted Sa¢d g permission to remain in the country

and proselytize.
It was also during this time that ¢Uthm¥n g ordered the Qur√¥n to be
compiled and authorized. After authenticating every verse and letter, he
had official copies sent to each Muslim city and garrison. The copies
extant today are identical to those official original copies.
During ¢Uthm¥n’s g reign, he appointed some of his relatives as governors

to the expanding provinces. Not all of them adhered to his high Islamic
standards, and many who lived under their oppressive rule were disgruntled.
The people’s frustration turned into rebellion, and in 656, a group of them
broke into his home as he was reading the Qur√¥n and assassinated him.
The final of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs was ¢AlÏ g, the cousin and
son-in-law of the Prophet Muâmmad s, who governed for only three
turbulent years before his death at the hands of violent extremists.
The Great Mosque in Damascus, Syria. The Umayyad Caliphate was based in
Syria until the Abbasids moved the capital to Baghdad in 750 AD.
He moved the capitol of the Islamic world to Kufa, in present-day Iraq,

where he maintained a nearly ascetic lifestyle despite the wealth of the
community. When he received word that the treasury was filled with
gold and silver, ¢AlÏ g summoned the people of Kufa and distributed
everything to them with the words: “O Yellow, O White! Go fool other
than me.” Then he ordered the treasury-house swept clean so that he
could perform his prayers in its emptiness. He used to be seen dressed
plainly, walking in the marketplace while beating a small drum and
reminding vendors and buyers to be honest in their transactions.
¢Uthm¥n’s g murder had not been forgotten, and many wanted to

see ¢AlÏ g take a strong decision towards his killers. When he did not
immediately punish ¢Uthm¥n’s g murderers, a series of events lead to his
death at the hands of a group of secessionists known as Kharijites.
Ups and Downs: The Making of a Civilization

Another Companion, Mu¢¥wiya, then declared himself Caliph and moved
the Caliphate to Damascus, from where he would rule over the Umayyad
Dynasty for ninety years. The Umayyads were dispatched in 750 ad by
the Abbasids, who moved their court to Baghdad. One young Umayyad
prince survived and escaped across the Mediterranean to al-Andalus, in
modern Spain. There he established a completely separate Caliphate that
would be the crown jewel of Europe for hundreds of years.
Meanwhile in Baghdad, the Abbasid Empire grew and began importing

Turkish soldiers from the north to protect its interests. As these Turkish
soldiers and the Persian viziers began to wield more and more control,
the Abbasid Caliphate began its slow decline. By 1055 ad, it was the
Seljuk Turkish soldiers who were the real power, but they continued to
defer to the Abbasids as the nominal figureheads. The great vizier, Ni¥m
al-Mulk, attempted to unite the three competing ethnic groups and mine
the strengths of each. He describes the division of power,
The Turks would keep order with their military strength, the
Arabs would provide unity by contributing religious doctrine,
and the Persians would contribute all the remaining arts of
civilization. The new ruling-class would thus consist of a
Turkish sultan and his army, an Arab khalifa (caliph) and the
¢ulama (scholars), and a Persian bureaucracy staffed by artists
and thinkers. 26
This division worked well enough that by 1071, Alp Arslan, the Turkish
Sultan, met the Byzantine Emperor Romanus Diogenes in battle and
utterly routed his troops. This victory—and Arslan’s capture and release of
the Emperor— dealt a decisive blow to the Byzantine Empire and paved
the way for what would eventually be Turkish settlement in Anatolia.
ALP ARSLAN: “What would you do if I were brought before you as a prisoner?”
EMPEROR ROMANOS: “Perhaps I’d kill you, or exhibit you in the streets
of Constantinople.”
ALP ARSLAN: “My punishment is far heavier. I forgive you and set you free.”
This would also be used as the battle cry of Catholic Europe. At first,
the ragtag band of Frankish Crusaders led by Peter the Hermit received
little more than a shrug of indifference from the Turkish leader Kilij
Arslan. The next wave of armed cavalry of the knights of France,
England, and Germany would not be ignored. Sweeping through
Nicaea and Antioch and Ma’ara, these European Crusaders assured
the inhabitants that if they simply opened their gates, they would not
be harmed. But barely an inhabitant survived and their corpses were
not spared.
This strategy also worked in Jerusalem. Once again, the city’s inhabitants
opened its gates; once again, the slaughter began, this time in earnest.
Almost the entirety of the Muslim and Jewish communities were wiped
out. The Eastern and Orthodox Christian inhabitants were exiled, their
property forfeited. It was out of these brutal episodes that a hero was
to emerge.
Saladin: A True Lionheart

Saladin was a classically educated child at the time of the massacre
of Jerusalem. A deeply religious boy, it was said that he could not only
quote scripture — Qur√¥n and ±adÏth — but was well-versed in Greek
works as well. This young Sultan of Egypt entered Jerusalem in 1187
after recapturing most of the Crusader holdings on his way without
bloodshed. By simply encircling the armies, applying economic pressure,
and negotiating truces, Saladin not only won back territory, but also
developed a noble reputation on both sides that lasts to this day.
With every territory that he won back, Saladin mimicked the behavior
of the Caliph ¢Umar g. Any citizen was free to leave. If they stayed,
they would do so with their lives, property, and religion secured. When
Crusaders refused to accept negotiations, Saladin met their troops in
battle. There was no retaliatory massacre, no pillaging.
Destruction becomes Dynasty

The invasion that could not be shrugged off and that ultimately caused
irreparable damage to the very heart of the Muslim world was the
invasion by the Mongols from the East. Genghis Khan, provoked by the
violent reception received by some of his envoys at the hands of the king
of Khwarazmia in what is now Iran, turned his eastward-bound troops
around to the sprawling Abbasid Empire in the west. For millions living
in the thirteenth century, the sweeping destruction of the Mongol hordes
signaled the end of civilization. Many cities— including the capitol of
The Maiden’s Tower in Istanbul, Turkey

Khwarazmia—were wiped off the face of the earth. Cities with over
one million inhabitants, fabled cities of education and culture like Herat
and Nishapur, were reduced to populations of less than one hundred.
Complex systems of irrigation were utterly destroyed, never to recover.
When the traveler Ibn Ba~‰~a came through these cities a century later,
he found that many of them were still in ruins. In 1258, the Abbasid
Caliphate and its seat, the splendid city of Baghdad, were destroyed along
with hundreds of thousands of books, manuscripts, and works of art and
architecture. Then, in one of the great surprises of history, the Muslims
took it all back, but not militarily. By 1257, the Mongol leaders began
converting to Islam.
Their empire spread east through Russia and China. Meanwhile in the west,
the Ottoman Turks were advancing into the Balkans, having conquered
most of the former Byzantine Empire. In 1453, Sultan Mehmet II conquered
Constantinople itself.
The late fifteenth century saw the rise of three more separate empires
in the Islamic world: the Safavids in Persia, the Mughals—descendants
of the Mongols—in India, and the continuing Ottoman Empire. The
first one came to an end by the beginning of the eighteenth century and
the second one followed in the nineteenth. The change in the world
geopolitical and economic map in addition to internal factors caused
these two vast empires to collapse. The Ottoman Empire continued its
expansion in Europe and North Africa and its slow death came after
being checked in the Battle of Vienna in 1922. This paved the path for
the Muslim world in the nation-state reality today as we know it.
The miracle of Islam’s spread is not the spread itself, nor even its rapidity.
The phenomenon of nomads overrunning greater civilizations is not
unprecedented. The Visigoths conquered Rome just as Khan’s Mongols
overran the palaces of China’s Jin Empire. What was singular about this
band of nomads was the staying power of their empire and the lasting
legacy—cultural, scientific, and philosophical—that their civilization left
behind. It should also be mentioned that those who look at the decline of
the dominance of the Islamic World and see in it some providential proof
of the inferiority of the religion of Islam itself are confusing faith with
empire. Empires rise and fall. It is what they do. Religion is measured
by neither expansion nor contraction. Faith can often be reflected most
strongly when it is practiced by minorities.
Tourists visit the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan. It was founded by the
sixth Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb Alamgir and was completed in 1673.
chapter seven: photo essay
The Lives of the Faithful

The Family of the Muezzein from Egypt
As Treasurer and Muezzin (one who calls to prayer), Kalafallah Taqi Muhammad
is a busy man handling different tasks in a big mosque located in one of the new
satellite cities outside the huge metropolitan area of Cairo, Egypt. His job involves
taking care of the different supplies of the Mosque, supervising the other workers,
and calling to prayer five times a day with his warm voice. He lives with his wife and
two children, Yusuf and Maryam. He is a very friendly man who believes in family
connection and ethical living. He believes that all good things come from being
kind to one’s parents; this is why, until this day, he calls his own mother twice a day,
in the morning and at night. He is proud to have called to the prayer and sermon of
famous preachers. His smile never leaves his face, especially when he explains that
his faith teaches him to be good to others.
The main source of inspiration in his life is the Qur√¥n. He is a determined man who
learned to read and write on his own. When talking about the state of the world, he
says that the problem is when people live a hollow faith that is disconnected from
action. “People have to say the truth even if it goes against themselves and their
loved ones. One should start with oneself, inwardly then outwardly, and then those
close to him,” he asserts. Nonetheless, he surely goes back to his smile and reiterates
a âdÏth that confirms: “Good is in me and in my community until the Last Day.”
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE LIVES OF THE FAITHFUL 75
The American Family: Six kids and an Educational Co-op

When Sara and Mike Kim graduated from the United States Naval Academy, they
could not have anticipated that their future would include and revolve around the
running of a twenty-seven acre ranch in Northern California, nor that they would
have six children who were the inspiration for Ilm Tree, a non-profit educational
co-op for local Muslim children which began running out of her home and has
since moved onto the ranch. Growing up, Sarah had little knowledge or awareness
of Islam or the Muslim world until a close friend converted. Worried that she had
become involved in some sort of strange cult, she began doing her own research
and found that the principles of the religion made immediate sense to her. Torn
between her commitment to her longtime fiancé, Mike, and her newfound religion,
she wrote him a long letter explaining her decision, honestly believing that her new
life was no longer compatible with her old love. After the initial shock, Mike, upon
his own research, claimed the religion as his own.
Though many in their extended family have not embraced the religion personally,
they are generally supportive and have pitched in with Sarah and Mike’s
community undertakings.
Ilm Tree now services the educational needs of California’s Bay Area families from
all walks of life and every socio-economic strata. Sienna Ranch is open to the public
and offers outdoor and survival learning courses with trained camping and wildlife
educators. More importantly, it provides safe and comfortable opportunities for
ongoing community interaction that does not revolve around doctrinal discussions.
The IndonEsian Family: Happiness in Serving the Community

Sholahudin Al Aiyub, Atik Nurwahyuni, and their daughters Zahra Amalia and
Khansa Maliha live in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country.
Both parents work two jobs. Atik is a lecturer in the Department of Health Policy
and Administration at the University of Indonesia, and works as a health policy
consultant to GTZ, German Technical Cooperation. Her husband Sholahudin is the
Secretary of the Fatwa Commission for the Indonesian Ulema Council, and serves
as a religious expert for Indonesia’s Presidential Advisory Council.
Despite their busy work schedules, Atik and Sholahudin are active in the
neighborhood mosque and in local religious groups, and take time to pass their
religious and community values on to their daughters.
PART THREE
IDEALS AND REALITIES
CHAPTER eight
English Roses and Dutch Tulips:

Surprising Stories of Islam and the West
Things today could have been very different.
In 1603, A^mad al-Man|‰r, the then King of Morocco, made a proposal

to his English ally, Elizabeth I. Had Queen Elizabeth accepted, their plan
would have completely changed the history of the modern world.
The King suggested that Moroccan and English ships together attack
the Spanish colonies in America, expel their mutual Spanish enemies,
and then “possess” the land and keep it “under [their joint] dominion
forever.”27 There was a catch, however. It would be more sensible,
suggested the King, that most of the future colonists be Moroccan rather
than English, given the warm climate of South America. Needless to say,
the Moroccan offer was refused by the English.
The modern reader must think this decision was absurdly obvious. But
Elizabeth’s decision had little to do with cultural or religious prejudice
and almost wholly with her country’s hollow coffers.
History is liberally peppered with examples that contradict the commonly

held view of an inherent and inevitable conflict between the Islamic
world and other religious communities. Whether as the hosts or the
guests, the victors or the vanquished, Muslim communities have proven
adaptable and resilient to new cultures, people, and ideas, and have
only recently been seen as a societal problem with which to contend.
A portrait of Fatih Sultan Mehmet who, at the age of twenty-one, conquered

Constantinople and brought an end to the Byzantine Empire
At a time when feudal Europe was riddled with hierarchy, Islam was
presented as an anarchic religion that gave too much respect and freedom
to menials, such as slaves and women. Christians could not see Islam as
separate from themselves; it had become, as it were, their shadow-self, the
opposite of everything that they thought they were or hoped they were not.28
As a result, the story of Islam is largely ignored in Western academics.

It is as though the world jumped straight from the Classical Age to the
Renaissance with no intermediary transmission.
Fair Trade?
Western scholarship would be well served by recognizing the contribution
of a people without whom their own Renaissance would have been
inconceivable. Whatever the collective state of Islamic societies is now,
there is no doubt that Muslim empires faithfully and expertly carried the
torch of civilization throughout most of their history. For any students
of classics, science, or law who look to the Hellenistic legacy as their
predecessor, it is entirely likely that the works they refer to on a daily
basis were transmitted or originated under Islamic scholarship. Many
classical Latin texts would have ended up in the graveyards of history
had it not been for Islamic scholarship’s insistence on preserving and
building upon the knowledge and wisdom of the past.
In the centuries that followed the passing of the Prophet Muâmmad s,

Muslims expanded their territory to the east, west, and north. By 732 ad,
the Muslim armies had reached what is now France, but their advance
was halted by Charles Martel. The borders between “Islamdom” and
“Christendom” have remained virtually the same ever since.
But the commonly accepted picture of an exclusively martial relationship

belies a much more complex reality. Muslims interacted with the non-Muslim
world in a number of contexts, not the least important of which was trade.
Ports of Europe were so dependent on trade with the Muslim world that
even during the height of the Crusades, against Papal orders, merchants from
Venice and elsewhere continued sailing into and out of the Muslim world.
Arabic on the Virgin’s Veil

Venice’s fortunes have been inextricably linked to the Muslim world
since the eighth century when Venetians went to Egypt to “liberate” the
relics of St. Mark. Venice was the portal to Europe for Muslims who had
CHAPTER EIGHT: ENGLISH ROSES AND DUTCH TULIPS 85
Many paintings of the religious themes of the day featured textiles decorated
with pseudo-Arabic scripts
a chance to see Europeans as traders rather than Crusaders, and was host
to some of the world’s greatest trade relations. Silk, carpets, spices, and
ceramics went west, while raw materials, like wood and wool, went east.
As a result, many paintings of the religious themes of the day featured
textiles decorated with pseudo-Arabic scripts.
For Venice, trade with Muslims represented about half of the republic’s
economy. It began trading with the Muslim world long before the rest of
Europe caught on, and the resulting wealth allowed Venice to transform
from a straggly outpost to the greatest pre-Renaissance Mediterranean
city. Meanwhile, though Venice is the only Christian city recognized
on Ibn Khald‰n’s fourteenth century map, its trade with the Mamluk
and Ottoman Empires reflected an insignificant fraction of the Islamic
Empires’ economics.
When Venetian tradesmen visited the Islamic world, they were astounded
by the level of craftsmanship they found. “Really all Christendom could be
The famous caffes of Venice were modeled after the coffeehouses of Istanbul
supplied for a year with the merchandise of Damascus,” said the Florentine
pilgrim Simone Sigoli in 1384. “There are such rich and noble and delicate
works of every kind,” he continued, “that if you had money in the bone of
your leg, without fail you would break it to buy of these things.”29
John Ruskin, the author of The Stones of Venice, claims that much of
Venice was directly copied from the Middle East. Even the famous caffes
of Venice were modeled after the coffeehouses of Istanbul.
When King Roger II of Palermo stood with his royal geographer al-IdrÏsÏ
discussing his commissioned work The Book of Roger, the King
questioned the African noble about his people’s history on the island of
Sicily. By the time of Roger’s rule, the Islamic empire in Sicily had been
destroyed for nearly a century, but the legacy of the previous century’s
Islamic rule was vibrantly apparent in every aspect of life. Arabic was
still widely spoken, and architects had developed a distinct Arab-
Norman style that is still visible in churches throughout Palermo. Roger’s
bilingual, or in some cases trilingual, coins proclaimed: “King Roger,
powerful through the grace of Allah!” Many of the kingdom’s accounts
were still kept by Muslim civil servants. Seemingly besotted with all
things Islamic, Roger replicated the famous Translation Movement of al-
Andalus in Salerno, bringing many of the Muslim and Jewish texts from
Islamic Spain to the Christian West. Roger himself spoke Arabic fluently
and was often at odds with the Roman Catholic Church. The same held
true two generations later, with his grandson Frederick II being dubbed
“the Baptized Sultan” for his emulation of Islamic customs and rule. Both
Kings refused to conduct open crusades against the Muslims. Both Kings
modeled their imperial bureaucracies and laws after some aspects of the
M¥likÏ school of law that was prevalent under the Muslim princes of
Sicily prior to the Norman invasion.
Did Vikings Pray Five Times a Day?

Tenth century Islamic texts dealing with the rules of prayer mention a
seemingly odd ruling: how do those who live so far North that they do
not experience an official “night” pray the Night Prayer? Mediterranean
students of Islamic law would normally assume this to be a hypothetical
question. As it turns out, it was not.
In 920 ad, the king of the Slavs wrote to the Caliph in Baghdad asking
for a messenger to be sent to his people to teach them the “true faith.”
A year later, a retinue was sent, and the record of that twenty-five
hundred mile trip remains today thanks to the ambassador’s secretary,
Ibn Fa\l¥n. Ibn Fa\l¥n’s surviving account gives the world one of the
first post-Roman descriptions of the Russian steppes and one of the only
eyewitness descriptions of a Viking longboat burial.
What became of the initial request for instruction in Islam is unknown.

But the trip proved to be a success in other ways. Along the route
northeast, Ibn Fa\l¥n and his group encountered the Oghuz Turks, a
nomadic tribe located between the Caspian Sea and Ural Mountains.
Distressed by their ignorance of Islam, Ibn Fa\l¥n taught them the
rudiments of the religion and parts of the Qur√¥n before moving on to
his mission. One hundred years later, the Oghuz Turks were to convert
and become the standard-bearers of Islam in their new incarnation as the
Ottoman Empire.
The World’s Ornament

When the Umayyad Prince ¢Abd al-Ra^m¥n, the sole remaining heir
to his family’s dynasty, fled Damascus for the frontier outpost of al-
Andalus, he could not have known that his thirty year rule would spawn
the greatest medieval kingdom in Europe. For nearly eight hundred
years, Muslims in what is now southern Spain created a world of
science, culture, technology, and literature that was unrivaled on the
continent. Córdoba, the capital of Umayyad Spain was referred to by a
Christian contemporary as “the Ornament of the World.” Though the
mythologized picture of harmony between all citizens is exaggerated, it
is a fact that where Jews in Europe were concerned, Islamic Spain was—
for its day — a sanctuary that would eventually produce the Golden Age
of Jewish Culture. The same held true for Christians deemed heretical
elsewhere in Europe.
This religious pluralism was not simply good manners but good policy as
well. The Muslim rulers of al-Andalus, specifically in centers of learning
like Córdoba, Toledo, and Seville, mined the wealth of human resources
to create the world that Western Europe would look to with wonder and
envy. As the superpower of the day, Islamic Spain’s trade relations with
China led to its use of paper four hundred years before the rest of Europe
and allowed it to maintain libraries that dwarfed those of its neighboring
kingdoms. In Córdoba alone, the library housed four hundred thousand
volumes, more than all other capital cities of its time combined.
The tenth century ruler of León, King Sancho the Fat, suffered from more than
just the emotional trauma of his nickname. His enemies used his size against
him to hint at his inability to rule. Knowing that his only hope lay south in
“enemy” lands, he and his mother headed to the court of ¢Abd al-Ra^m¥n III,
who welcomed him and allowed him the services of his own personal physician,
the Jewish Hasdai bin Shaprut. Using ¢Abd al-Ra^m¥n’s royal palace as his own
health camp, Sancho remained under Shaprut’s care until he had slimmed down.
After regaining the physique befitting a royal, he returned to León in triumph
and put down any dissention that his obesity had caused. As Tamim Ansary puts
it: “A Christian king received treatments from a Jewish physician at the court of
a Muslim ruler: there you have the story of Muslim Spain in a nutshell.”
A statue of King Sancho I, outside the Castle of the Silves, Algarve, Portugal
The Mezquita de Córdoba is seen illuminated at night
As the language of diplomacy and science, Arabic soon became the language
of choice for the elite of al-Andalus, Muslim or otherwise. The ninth century
Bishop of Córdoba complained of the corrupting influence of the Arabic
tongue that was endangering the supremacy of Latin among Catholics.
“Hardly one can write a passable Latin letter to a friend, but innumerable are
those who can express themselves in Arabic and can compose poetry in
that language with greater art than the Arabs themselves.”30
The Bishop’s fears were warranted. With this loosening of the Latin
monopoly, the way was paved for a renaissance of vernacular languages.
Without Arabic, Cervantes and his Don Quixote could not exist. Without
Cervantes, there would be no Dante, and without Dante, no Shakespeare.
The romantic fixture of medieval courts, the troubadour, also owes his
existence to Islamic Spain. Court poets flourished throughout the Islamic
world, some traveling from kingdom to kingdom singing their themes
of unrequited love, perfections of their beloved, and the secrecy of signs
and go-betweens. One of the most celebrated of these was Ziry¥b—the

Beau Brummell of his day. Arriving from Baghdad in the ninth century,
he immediately became the absolute trendsetter, dictating the standard
that aristocrats of various religions and cultures looked to emulate. He
introduced the locals in Europe to toothpaste, deodorant, and elegant
standards of dining, such as dividing meals into distinct courses.
Nor was it just the fine gentlemen of Europe who looked toward al-
Andalus. Christian knights, particularly those in Castile, relied on the
dress and practices of Muslim knights and declared that the best horses
and adornments came from Muslim countries.
Muslim Caesars and Dracula-Slayers

Though the preceding sections illustrate the different points of contact
between the Islamic world and the West, perhaps the most entrenched
and remembered encounter was that of the Ottoman Empire. In no other
figure is this fusion more apparent than with Sultan Mehmet II. After
the fall of Constantinople, Mehmet claimed the title of Caesar of Rome.
Though the Greeks did not recognize this claim, it was not baseless. After
all, the Byzantine Empire—with Constantinople as its capital—was
the legitimate heir to the Roman legacy. His own bloodline was no less
compelling as many of his ancestors had married princesses from the
Byzantine imperial family.
Mehmet was serious about fashioning himself as the inheritor of Europe’s

greatest legacy. He avidly followed Renaissance art and had kings from
all over the continent send their greatest artists to cast his image. Painters
like Constanzo da Ferrara from Naples and Bentile Bellini from Venice
came and spent many years in the Ottoman court. When these painters
returned to their countries, they introduced Turkish models dressed in
traditional Islamic clothing to depict Biblical scenes. Both Leonardo
da Vinci and Michelangelo made bids to the Sultan for the creation of a
bridge on the Golden Horn.
In addition to housing Europe’s top artists, Mehmet’s imperial court was

a gathering of humanist philosophers and Greek scholars. He maintained
the integrity of the Byzantine Church and had the Patriarch translate
the Christian doctrine into Turkish. Wherever the empire spread—and
this was much further than many of us realize today—The Ottoman
Sultan set up the millet system: an autonomous religious community with
The “English Rose” made its way to England from Persia via trade with the
Ottoman Empire
imperially appointed governors from within the community. This system

remained intact until the final dismantling of the Ottoman Empire in
the 1920s. The original edict is still kept in the Franciscan Catholic
Monastery in Fojnica, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Sultan Mehmet II declared in a public speech that:

“From among the subjects, where I distinguish who is Muslim is at a mosque,
who is Christian, in a church, and who is Jewish, in a synagogue. There is no
difference between them on other days.”
—EKMELEDDIN İHSANOĜLU, A Culture of Peaceful Co-existence.
Mehmet’s political acumen allowed him to maintain relatively good ties

with his subjects as well as his peers. However, every ruler has enemies,
and one of his rebellious vassals was fated to outlive his master’s fame
in Western literature. Mehmet came into conflict with Prince Vlad III
of Wallachia, known to us as Dracula. Vlad’s own brother, Radu, sided
with Mehmet to rid the region of this dark prince. They eventually won
out after protracted battles, and the Turk-killer turned vampire-legend
eventually lost all his power and lands.
Although tulips are associated with Holland, it was the Turks who
made the tulip known in Europe. In 1554, Ferdinand I’s ambassador to
Süleyman the Magnificent reported back to his sovereign that the Turks
surrounded themselves with flowers of all sorts including the, as yet
unknown, tulip. The sultans were known to place yearly orders of up to
fifty thousand bulbs. It is said that the famed “English Rose” also made
its way to England from Persia via trade with the Ottoman Empire.
photo essay
UPHOLDING THE TRUST:

MUSLIMS AND THE PHYSICAL WORLD
CUSTODIANS OF THE EARTH
When God created man, He entrusted him with the weight of reason and volition.
Of all His creation, only humankind took on this burden and honor. Over fourteen
hundred years ago, the Prophet Muâmmad s told his Companions not to waste
water even if they were on the edge of a flowing river. He taught that if any Muslim
plants a seedling from which a human being or an animal eats, he will be rewarded
as if he had given that much food in charity. He s said: “Even if the Last Hour is
about to come and one of you is holding a palm seedling, let him take advantage of
even one second before the Hour comes, and plant it.”
Once, while walking, Muâmmad s passed by a camel that was clearly

undernourished. He reminded its owner to “Fear God in the treatment of these
mute beasts.”
Movements such as the Misali Marine Conservation and Mangrove Rehabilitation in

Zanzibar, Tanzania and the Canal Rehabilitation and Kashmir Valley Reforestation in
Pakistan are not only doing their part to care for the environment, but are engaged
in a highly encouraged act of worship.
An aerial view of a village and mangroves, Mohoro Bay, Tanzania

Neelum Valley in Pakistan administered Kashmir
The acting head warden, near a cave at Misali Island. A conservation project based
on Islamic principles is used to conserve this uninhabited island in Zanzibar, Tanzania.
Worship: Delving into the Mysteries of Creation

For some modern minds, the mysteries of creation may seem to close the door
on scientific inquiry. For Muslims, this is where the mystery begins. Solving the
puzzle of creation has not meant that Muslims close themselves off to studying
the cosmos. By the words of the Qur√¥n itself, Muslims are commanded to look
carefully at the signs of creation in the heavens and the earth. What differentiates
Islamic science from secular science is Islamic sciences’ recognition of its eternal
purpose. The pursuit of truth is paramount to both sciences, but in Islamic science,
the cold, dispassionate hunt is replaced by an acknowledgement of the trust that
mankind took on and a feeling of awe towards God’s creation. As the Qur√¥n warns,
the believers are to walk on the earth with humility  (25:63).
The Muslim quest for knowledge often drove even the most devout rulers and
religious scholars to support freethinking and empirical scientific inquiry.
—MICHEAL MORGAN, Lost History, 2007
Whether in the field of mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, physics, or medicine, for

over seven hundred years, the Muslim world reigned as the single most progressive
scientific force in the world.
In order to solve the intricate Islamic inheritance laws, al-Khaw¥rizmÏ developed

algebra (from the Arabic word al-jabr) in the ninth century. He is the same man
who developed the system of logarithms without which computer programming
would not exist. Ibn al-Haytham’s eleventh century development of the
foundation of what is now called the scientific method is likely the result of the
empirical attitude of the Qur√¥n and science. Bertrand Russell, the famous British
philosopher, has rightly claimed: “It was the Arabs who introduced the empirical
method in the study of nature and cultivated it widely when they were leaders of
the civilized world.”
The great eleventh century scientist and philosopher Ibn SÏn¥ is celebrated as a
national hero in Tajikistan, as attested to by their currency
Avicenna (Ibn SÏn¥ in Arabic), the eleventh century philosopher-scientist from

Uzbekistan, could rightly take his place with Hippocrates as the father of modern
medicine. Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine was translated into Latin in the twelfth
century and was the premier medical textbook in Europe until the seventeenth
century.
A page from Ibn SÏn¥'s Canon of Medicine

CHAPTER nine
The Twin Halves of Men

Wherever I turned, to the left or the right, I saw her fighting for me.
…What man among you can do what Nu|ayba has done?31
Is Equality Equal?
Above all else, Islam’s primary concern is with a person’s relationship
with God. The most relevant questions to pose to the religion then are:
Does Islam provide for a framework of equal access to God for both
women and men and are men and women equal in Islam? To the first
question there is an unequivocal yes. To the second it is a lukewarm it
depends. It depends on whether society will continue to equate equality
with identicalness. It depends on whether society will continue to be
subjugated by what Seyyed Hossein Nasr refers to as the “absolutization
of the transient.” As Nasr describes: “Each decade absolutizes its own
fashions of thought and action without the least pause and consideration
of the fact that a decade later those very fashions and ideas will be buried
in the dustbin of history as one turns to a new decade.”32
As long as the criteria of judgment are external, foreign, and dependent

upon transient definitions of equality, the question can never truly be
answered. Muslims are fond of reminding doubters that there have been
no less than four female heads of state in the Islamic world. However,
this argument merely falls into the type of logic that is best avoided.
Because the situations of Muslim women vary radically depending on
where, when, and at whom you look, the only perspective that can be
discussed so generally is the theological one.
“Women are the twin halves of men.”—Prophet Muâmmad s

The story of Islam cannot be told without women—not merely as oblique

references to mothers and wives, but specific women like the ones whose
central role we will briefly cite here: KhadÏja, ¢®√isha, ßumayya, Umm
Salama, Nu|ayba, and Khawla l. That more is not known about these
women is a real disservice to women’s history. These are the women who,
from the earliest days of Islam, embodied the Qur√¥n’s message of human
equality and the Prophet Muâmmad’s teaching that women are “the
twin halves of men.”33
When the Prophet Muâmmad s received his “annunciation,” the first

encounter with the Archangel Gabriel e left him terrified. A popular
man, Muâmmad s had many friends to whom he could have gone.
Instead, his first thought was to seek the comfort of his wife, KhadÏja j.
Dazzled by his experience, Muâmmad s asked her what happened
to him. Having only known him to be composed and dignified, she
responded with remarkable poise and cool: “You uphold family ties. You
give to the poor. You endure misfortunes. You honor your guests. You
help others when the misfortunes decreed by heaven descend. Your
Lord will never humiliate you.”34 She then attested that what had come
to him was none other than revelation from God. Thus, the first convert
to Islam was a woman, the woman who knew Muâmmad s better
than anyone else.
The story of their life together is one that transcends culture and time
and still reads as a beautiful love story. She was his most steadfast
ally, and the year she died is recorded in Muslim history as the Year
of Sadness. For Muslims — and anyone who believes in divine Will —
Aida Begić is the director of the film

Snijed or “Snow” which opened up the
14th Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) in August
2008. It won the 2008 Cannes Critic’s
Week Grand Prize, and was screened at
film festivals around the world.
CHAPTER NINE: THE TWIN HALVES OF MEN 101
nothing is an accident. Thus, it was no coincidence that KhadÏja j

is the “first lady” of Islam — both chronologically and in terms of
station. Widowed prior to marrying Muâmmad s, she established
the precedent that virginity and youth are not the sole allurements of
women. Married to this wealthy and competent woman, the Prophet
Muâmmad s provided a template for the ultimate secure and
balanced husband.
When the tribal leaders of Medina came to pledge their allegiance to

Muâmmad s, four of the fourteen members of that original allegiance
were women. One of those women was Nu|ayba j.
No Chapter Titled “Men”

Even though the Arabic language uses the masculine when referring to a
mixed-gender group, the Qur√¥n repeatedly calls to the believing men
and believing women, the devout men and devout women, the  men
who fast and women who fast , and the men who guard their chastity
and women who guard their chastity  (33:35). The Qur√¥n informs its
readers — male and female—that they are equally responsible and equally
rewarded for their works.
The fourth chapter of the Qur√¥n, titled “The Women,” dealt one of
the hardest blows to a heavily patriarchal tribal culture. It limited,
definitively and for all times, the number of wives a man can have.
Cultural and historical awareness is essential in this matter. There was
no limit previously established, and in many places in the world, there is
still no limit.
Asmaa Abdol-Hamid is a Danish Muslim

of Palestinian origin. In 2006 she
became the first TV presenter to wear
hijab in Denmark. Her decision caused
a lot of debate and fan/hate mail. In
2007, she decided to run for the Danish
parliament, and is listed as seventh on
the Red-Green Alliance’s parliamentary
candidate list.
The Qur√¥n goes one step further to say:  Marry from among women
such as are lawful to you—two or three or four. But if you have reason
to fear that you might not be able to treat them with equal fairness, then
(only) one  (4:3).
And later in the same chapter, it states: You shall never be able to be fair
and just between women even if it is your ardent desire  (4:129). The
Prophet’s multiple marriages as a fifty year old widower were usually
contracted for tribal bonding and political expediency. Aside from
these reasons, other circumstances remain, both personal and societal,
that would make polygyny preferable to its alternatives, and therefore
scholars have not ruled it totally impermissible. As Huston Smith puts it,
A war that decimated the male population could provide an

example forcing (as this would) the option between polygyny
and depriving a large proportion of women of motherhood and
a nuclear family of any sort. Idealists may call for the exercise of
heroic continence in such circumstances, but heroism is never a
mass option.35
However, according to the vast majority of Muslim scholars, monogamy

is the ideal. In this case, it is because of the explicit words of the Qur√¥n,
despite the example of the Prophet s.
As for the Prophet Muâmmad s himself, during his prime, despite

numerous opportunities to marry a number of younger women, he
remained in a monogamous marriage for as long as KhadÏja j was alive.
Fadime Örgü is one of the first Muslims

elected to the Dutch Parliament. She
entered into politics at the age of fifteen,
setting up a girls group to work for
economic independence through the
Liberal Party of the Netherlands.
Even after her death, he was reluctant to remarry, but the local women
pressed him and suggested a number of options.
The most famous of the Prophet’s wives, ¢®√isha j, was the daughter
of his friend Ab‰ Bakr g, the man who later become the first Caliph.
¢®√isha’s j young age at the time of her marriage is often brought up by
those who are either completely unaware of human history or intent on
demonizing a man with attacks on actions that even his worst enemies
at the time did not find problematic. Though there was a considerable
age difference between ¢®√isha j and the Prophet s, the marriage
was not consummated until ¢®√isha j had reached—or, according to
some sources, exceeded—the age of puberty. There was not at the time,
nor is there now in many places, anything inappropriate about this
arrangement. In some parts of the US, the age when a girl could consent
to marital sex was, until very recently, as low as seven.36
¢®√isha’s youth provided the Muslim community with a scholar who long
outlived the Prophet s and who narrated at least two thousand âdÏth,
many of which are central to Islamic teachings and the understanding of
who the Prophet s was. In the initial moments of the birth of Islam, the
Prophet Muâmmad s took comfort in the arms of his wife, KhadÏja j.
At the end of his life, a time that marked the end of revelation, we find
him again in the arms of his wife, the young ¢®√isha j.
Khouloud el-Faqeeh is the first

contemporary female to break through
the ranks of the all-male ranks of Islamic
law judges in the Palestinian territories.
She finally secured a post after scoring—
along with another woman—among the
highest in a recent test for new jurists.
INTIMACY BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE

Perhaps nowhere else do we see the surprising sacralizing of what
was previously considered the ultimate profanity. In Islam, intimacy
between husband and wife is seen as a necessary and beautiful part of
marriage. “Truly, in the conjugal act of each of you, there is a |adaqa
[voluntary charity],” the Prophet s said.41 And in case an overeager
listener should take this as a license to approach his wife with roughness,
he cautioned: “One of you should not fulfill his (sexual) need from his
wife like an animal, rather there should be between you foreplay of
kissing and words.”42
Of course, the Islamic sanctification of sexual gratification and

romance between husband and wife has not always been something
to be proud of. In fact, it was not very long ago that Muslims were
demonized, not for being incompatible with Western secular traditions,
but for being too sensual and too worldly. What kind of religion,
after all, exhorts its faithful to invoke God’s name (Bismill¥h) at the
most physically intimate moment between husband and wife? Even
more, what religion would reward the act of sexual intimacy between
spouses? What kind of religion teaches that when a husband and wife
reach for each other’s hand, their sins slip away between their fingers
like drops of water? What kind of religion openly and unabashedly
describes a heaven filled with not only spiritual rewards but also
physical rewards for those who earn them?
Women’s rights in the West were only won after many long, hard battles.
Those in power ceded these rights grudgingly and only because of
changes that made them ultimately inevitable. In distinction, God does
not wait for the political climate to be ripe, especially when it comes to
His final revelation. The rights demanded by Islam for both men and
women were extraordinary and they were not subject to the changing
tides of popular opinion.
Feminist movements do exist in Muslim countries and within the Muslim

communities of the West, but the impact of the proponents of a radical,
completely Western style of feminism has been minimal at best. On the
other hand, significant progress is being made by women’s groups that
have arisen from within the traditional Islamic sector and are calling
for a rigorous return to the rights enshrined not only in the Qur√¥n and
Sunna but also in the spirit of the religion that was embodied by the long-
forgotten heroines of Islamic history.
“There are many men who have fabricated ±adÏth. However, no woman in the
history of Islam has been accused of fabrication.”
—IMAM AL-DHAHAB¬
Quoted by Dr. Muhammad Akram Nadwi,
A Glimpse at Early Women Islamic Scholars
There is still a great deal of work to be done on women’s rights in the

Islamic world, but while women in Muslim-majority countries do
have a number of grievances, their grievances tend to differ from the
issues generally associated with Muslim women by the Western world.
Disempowerment, lack of education, and lack of financial independence
are, more often than not, issues that affect the men of a particular region
as well as the women and must be handled in concert with broader
economic issues to have any efficacy.
Some may object to the “twin half” idea, protesting the completeness of
each gender irrespective of its relationship to the other. While there is
no doubt that both a man and a woman can be independently complete,
men and women, in society, cannot.
“Islam treats women as spiritual equals to men…It doesn't mean there aren't
people who use Islam to justify oppression against women or other actions.”
—DR. INGRID MATTSON
chapter TEN: photo essay
Islam and Culture

Winners of MTV Denmark’s best act award, the band Outlandish are an anomaly
in the excess and debauchery of the popular music industry. Their lyrics focus on
issues of spirituality and social consciousness. A well-known American Muslim
teacher once used their song, “Appreciatin’’ as a segue for a lesson to encourage
Muslim youth to become more constant in their prayers.
CHAPTER TEN: ISLAM AND CULTURE 107
Haji Noor Deen, renown Arabic calligrapher

THE SPIRIT ILLUMINATED: contemporary QUR√®NIC ART

In an effort to employ art and technology to serve the scripture, which is the
ultimate perfection of beauty and rigor, Editio Electrum, a company motivated
to preserve Islamic arts, has achieved a remarkable feat. After choosing twelve
frontispieces of the most splendid Qur√¥nic manuscripts, trained apprentices used
digital technology to reconstruct the timeless calligraphic and geometrical designs
by hand. The team working on the project has not only deciphered and understood
the visual language of the medieval originals but has also developed workshop
techniques with the very latest in digital design and print technology to articulate
this language in a new and exciting medium. The work was presented in exhibitions
around the world and has gathered the attention of many observers. The Qur√¥n
continues to be an endless source of beauty that inspires the Muslim imagination
and craftsmanship.
CHAPTER TEN: ISLAM AND CULTURE 109
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Justice and Peace in Islam

Peace in Islam entails the presence of justice in society and the absence of
oppression and corruption from it. While Islam places emphasis on the
preservation of peace, it does not endorse pacifism if it results in tyranny
and the death of innocents (regardless of faith).
Given that Islamic principles of ethics require that means as well as ends
must be upright and virtuous, Muslims over the centuries have developed
rules of engagement in armed conflicts that aim to preserve innocent life,
protect property, honor treaties and other agreements, and minimize the
possibility of the abuse of power.
Conflict in the Pursuit of Justice

The rules pertaining to armed conflict or war in Islam have been carefully
thought out, debated, and developed over many centuries. The Prophet
Muâmmad s, serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the earliest
Muslim armies, has provided a rich resource of ethical principles by
which Muslims are to hold themselves accountable. The Prophet s has
been understood to serve as a model by which to judge all future use
of force in complex social realities. So when today’s Muslims decry the
atrocities that occur in their name, they do so by referencing both the law
and practice exemplified in the life and battles of the Prophet s.
Let us consider how the Qur√¥n addresses the Prophet s and early
Muslims regarding conflict that is necessary to restore peace. After years
of persecution at the hands of the Meccans, during which time Muslims
strove to resolve conflict peacefully even when they were tortured and
Chris Hedges, journalist, author, and war correspondent, delivers a speech at the
Reviving the Islamic Spirit Conference in Toronto, Canada.
An Indian Muslim, at the start of a ten day long Islamic Peace Conference in
Mumbai, India
starved as a result of sanctions placed on them, they were given permission

by God to fight back when the Meccans continued to oppress them.
And when the Meccans organized an army to march on a city whose
inhabitants included both non-Muslims as well as Muslims, the Qur√¥n
revealed: Permission [to fight] is given to those against whom war is being
wrongfully waged—and, verily, God has indeed the power to help those
who have been driven from their homelands against all right for no other
reason than their saying: “Our Sustainer is God!” For, if God had not
CHAPTER ELEVEN: JUSTICE AND PEACE IN ISLAM 113
enabled people to defend themselves against one another, [all] monasteries

and churches and synagogues and mosques—in [all of] which God’s name
is abundantly extolled—would surely have been destroyed (22:39)
The specification of monasteries, churches, and synagogues here is

noteworthy. Muslims are required to defend religion as such, not merely
their own faith. These verses establish the importance of defending the
persecuted, particularly those persecuted because of their faith, Muslim
or otherwise.
Verses in the Qur√¥n outlining the rules of war characteristically

establish limitations on how and when force can be used, and often
couple permission to use force with sharp warnings against aggression.
For example, the verse kill them wherever you find them (2:191),
which refers to the Muslim armies’ efforts to avoid battle on holy
grounds, is qualified by a verse following it that states:  But if they cease,
let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression  (2:193).
“Even under the worst rulers, Christians and Jews held positions of influence
and in general retained their religious freedom.”
—HUSTON SMITH, Islam: A Concise Introduction
The Prophet s repeatedly prohibited the targeting of civilians, stressing

the Qur√¥nic ethics of doing only what is necessary to win a battle, not
to destroy the opposing side or engage in a “scorched earth” or “total
war” policy.
Echoing the words of his teacher, Caliph Ab‰ Bakr g reminded his
soldiers: “Do not betray, or be treacherous or vindictive. Do not mutilate.
Do not kill children, the aged, or women. Do not cut or burn palm trees
or fruit trees or any green tree. Do not slay a sheep, a cow, or camel
except for your food. And you will come across people who take refuge
in places of worship [synagogues and churches]; leave them alone to that
which they devote themselves.”43
One of the key events exemplifying the Prophet’s merciful nature was
when, upon reentering the land from which he had been forcibly expelled
under threat of assassination, and seeing the faces of his bitterest
persecutors, men and women who had tortured and mutilated the
struggling new community, he granted them amnesty.
Contextualizing the Pursuit of JusticE

World Wars I and II resulted in more than the death of hundreds of
thousands of men and women; many ethical ideals were also betrayed.
At the conclusion of those wars, however, much of the developed world
found itself enjoying a fragile peace. Despite the sometimes haphazard
division of lands by wealthier colonial nations, even less wealthy nations
in the post-colonial period assumed some degree of sovereignty—their
territories were not to be violated—at least in theory. Before this relative
peace between nations was achieved in the modern period, many empires,
nations, city-states, and tribes in the medieval world often functioned
with regular armed conflict as a part of their normal state of affairs.
Pre-Islamic Arabia was one such context where inter-tribal warfare was
common and frequent.
A “state of war” was assumed to exist between one’s tribe and all others
unless a particular treaty or agreement had been reached with another
tribe establishing amicable relations.44
It was in this climate that the Qur√¥n was revealed and early Muslim
societies were formed. It was in this climate that the expansion of the
Islamic empire took place. Early Muslim scholars divided lands into
three categories. First, there was the land ruled by Muslims where it was
safe for Muslims to practice Islam and where non-Muslims’ freedom
of worship was protected. Second, there was the land of those—like
the King of Ethiopia—with whom there were treaties of peace where,
although Muslims did not rule, they were free to practice Islam. Third,
there was the land of those who were hostile to Muslims where Muslims
were not free to practice Islam. The final category was where the efforts
of the Muslim armies were focused in order to change its status to one
of the first two categories and to safeguard the physical integrity of the
community of believers and pursue justice for all. This was “at a time
and place when fighting, sometimes preemptively, sometimes defensively,
was understood to be the only way to do so,”45 but these wars, though
permissible, were still tempered by the words of the Qur√¥n: If they
incline towards peace, then incline to it as well, and place your trust in
God. He alone is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. And if they intend to deceive
you, then surely God is sufficient for you  (8:61–62).
CHAPTER ELEVEN: JUSTICE AND PEACE IN ISLAM 115
Where the Muslim armies were victorious, those people wishing to

remain were promised safety of person and property under the new
government. As non-Muslims, they were not required to pay the Zakat
payment (mandatory for Muslims to be given to the poor); however, in
return for their defense, they were required to pay the jizya (defense tax).
This jizya exempted the payer from military service and was returned
to him if the Muslim ruler could not defend him. A precedent for this
kind of repayment was made early in Muslim history when the second
Caliph, ¢Umar g, was unable to protect Christian Arabs in Syria from
the assaults of the Byzantines.
JUSTICE FOR PEACE

God says: O you who believe, stand firmly for justice, as witnesses for
God, even if it means testifying against yourselves, or your parents, or
your kin, and whether it is against the rich or poor, for God prevails upon
all. Follow not the lusts of your hearts, lest you swerve, and if you distort
justice or decline to do justice, verily God knows what you do  (4:135).
Pursuing justice in order to return to a state of peace sometimes requires

opposition to injustice with force. But opposition to injustice can also be
pursued by speaking out against it.
Many Muslims today boldly speak out against injustice in various ways.
A 2003 Zogby poll taken in Saudi Arabia showed that over 99 percent of
respondents felt that violence against civilians was never justified.46
There has been no shortage of organizations that have spoken out clearly
against terror tactics employed against civilians—both Muslim and non-
Muslim — in America, London, Spain, Iraq, Afghanistan, and anywhere
in the world. Suffice it to say that the world’s biggest Islamic institutions
and organizations are listed as opponents of terrorism, including the
Organization of the Islamic Conference, all major Islamic organizations
in the United States, and many more throughout the world.
Mansur Escudero of the Islamic Commission of Spain, one of the hundreds

of imams who spoke out and ruled emphatically that the violence
perpetrated in Spain was utterly against the most basic principles of Islam,
responded to others’ fears for his life by saying: “If there are reprisals from
this group or any other, then I am willing to accept them. I am not afraid. I
only fear God, and He is the best protector.”47
chapter twelve: photo essay
Muslims Today—
Demographics and Culture
Established from its earliest days on three continents and amid hundreds of
ethnic and linguistic groups from Morocco to China, Muslims inhabit and thrive
in worlds as diverse from each other as they are from seventh century Medina.
Today, there are more than fifty countries with Muslim majority populations.
The world’s total Muslim population is approximately 1.3 billion people. This
means that of every five people alive today, one is a professed Muslim.
ASIA
Islam came to Indonesia in the thirteenth century through Muslim Indian traders. By
the end of the sixteenth century, Islam was established on Java and Sumatra. Indonesia
is now nearly 90 percent Muslim. A noted exception to the prevalence of Islam in
Indonesia is Bali, where over 90 percent of the population of three million is Hindu.
Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Iran round out the top five countries in Asia
with the highest Muslim populations. Today in Malaysia, the Muslim population is
well over fifteen million (60 percent of the total population) and is a mix of Malay,
Chinese, Indian, and converts from various ethnicities.
Chapter Twelve: Muslims Today—Demographics and Culture 117
europe
Islam in many parts of Southeastern Europe managed to survive under the
unfavorable conditions of the Communist Era. In Albania, Bosnia, and Kosovo,
Muslims represent sizable majorities of 70, 60, and 90 percent respectively. Of the
remaining European nations, only Montenegro, Macedonia, Russia, Bulgaria, and
France claim Muslim communities of more than 10 percent.
Muslims make a noticeable minority in France. In the United Kingdom, Muslims

make up a small but highly visible minority— roughly 2.8 percent of the population.
AFRICA
Within the first days of Islam, the African nation of Abyssinia proved its dedication
to the protection of the faith. The majority of Muslims in Africa are centered in the
north, with Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Morocco all above 90 percent Muslim.
During the eighth century, Islam took root along the East African coast as a result
of interaction between people on the east coast and merchants from the Persian
Gulf. Today, Somalia, Djibouti, and Comoros are at least 97 percent Muslim.
Many Western African states are nearly entirely Muslim. Mali was the home of the
legendary Mansa Musa, an incredibly wealthy fourteenth century patron of Islamic
arts and scholarship.
the americas
The history of Islam in America is still being written. Anthropologists have found
traces of Islamic settlements as far west as Nevada and Texas. Today’s Muslim
demographics in America change almost daily, with high numbers of conversions
and high rates of immigration from Muslim countries. Muslims in America are the
most diverse religious group and the only one where there is no ethnic majority.
The earliest acknowledged Muslim presence in America is that of the thousands

of Muslim African slaves captured and brought to both North and South America.
African Americans still make up nearly one third of the Muslim American population.
Muslims are generally more educated than any other religious group in America
and are much more integrated and engaged in their communities than their
counterparts in Europe.
CHAPTER thirteen
Islam and the Modern World

Is Islam compatible with the modern world? This is a troubling —not
to mention sloppy— question. What happens if a group decides that the
answer is no? The modern world will not go away. Does this mean that
Islam should? Do the 1.3 billion Muslims introduced in these pages have
to find some alternate universe in which to exist? Or do they have to turn
their backs on their faith?
A more reasonable and constructive way to frame the question is, how do
Muslims navigate today’s world? After all, a religion without adherents
is merely a museum artifact. The problem—if there is one—is not with
Islam, but with Muslims. For the one thousand years during which the
Islamic world was in ascendancy, Muslims not only existed in their
contemporary worlds but also shaped those worlds boldly, depositing
progressive reform and civilizing culture wherever the Islamic empire
spread. The descendants of those pioneers, visionaries, and reformers are
now seen as the antithesis of all that is cultivated and civilized.
When images of terrorism, violent protests, and book burnings are what
race to mind at the mention of “Muslims,” it is impossible to have a
reasoned discussion. Only by dissecting the realities of the world as it
stands today and weighing them against Islamic ideals and Muslim lives
can we determine if this really is a case of irreconcilable differences. The
modern world, as it is represented by the televised West, is shiny and
happy. A recent video circulated on the Internet and watched by over two
million viewers shows the takeover of a train station in Antwerp where a
mass of Belgians “spontaneously” burst into dance to the tune of “Do Re
A minaret in the midst of skyscrapers in Abu Dhabi, UAE

Mi” from The Sound of Music. Modernity is freedom and happiness and
the choice of a dizzying amount of consumer goods at the supermarket.
What is so wrong with the Muslim world that they are obstinately
refusing to join the dance? Why are they so glum?
To answer the question, we would have to ignore the vast numbers of

Muslims around the globe who are fully engaged in the modern world,
serving their neighbors and contributing to the scientific, technological,
and political advancement of their respective societies. We would have
to focus solely on the malcontents to discover the sources of legitimate
frustration and disenchantment.
Global Justice and Malcontents

“There but the grace of God go I” is a well-meaning but highly
individualistic idea. By and large, Muslims have immigrated to the
West from collectivist societies where “There with the grace of God am
I” gives a truer sense of the idea of communal suffering. The Prophet
Muâmmad s taught: “The believers are like one body: when any part
complains, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever.”48
The supplications at the end of most Friday sermons are directed to every
corner of the world in which there is suffering. It would be disingenuous
not to point out that the emphasis is usually on Muslims who are
suffering, but in our time, if Muslims don’t care for each other, there are
not many who are clamoring for the job.
The average Muslim is acutely aware of the cost the rest of the world pays
for First World comforts: starvation, depleted farmland, dislocation,
unequal access to resources, and imposition or support of brutal
dictatorships. While learning the values and ideals of modern
democracy in school, Muslims — whether immigrant or convert,
liberal or conservative — have access to stories that are not carried in
mainstream media until well after they become irrelevant history.
These realities become the fodder that political extremists use under the
guise of religion to incite mayhem and destruction.
Spectators in the Muslim world can hardly be blamed for confusion

when they see their religion accused of imperial ambitions and violent
oppression. They see the Western powers insisting on a particular brand
of democracy that elects only a particular kind of leader. This insistence
Chapter Thirteen: Islam and the Modern World 127
Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank developed the concept of

microcredit—loans given to entrepreneurs unable to qualify for traditional bank loans
is invariably backed by the threat or reality of “the sword.” When the

wrong kind of leader is chosen, the citizens are taught that modern
democracy still has a long way to go before achieving its promised ends.
And yet it is the Muslim world that is constantly berated and accused of
medieval barbarity.
It is against this backdrop that Muslim malcontents operate. These

realities that are peddled by hatemongers throughout the world act
as kerosene splashed all over Muslim lands. When a pope speaks
disrespectfully about the legacy of the Prophet Muâmmad s or a
newspaper virtually begs for chaos by inviting ignorant depictions
of the Prophet of Mercy s,49 there will always be a willing group of
malcontents jumping before a camera and protesting their peace-loving
nature by throwing bricks through a window.
But though Muslims may universally feel the sting of indignation and an
impotent frustration from the injustice done to their religion and beloved
teacher and Prophet s, the vast majority of Muslims do not partake in or
even condone this affirmation of the accusations hurled at them. In fact,
if the satellite networks were to allow their lenses to zoom back from the
book burners in Karachi, Pakistan, we might discover that there is no
raging crowd there, just the usual collection of unemployed malcontents

that would be found on any street in Karachi. And more importantly, we
might find that the Muslims of this world are just as weary of this sorry
spectacle—maybe even more so —than the Christian, Jewish, and secular
publics in the West.50
Not only do these book burners not represent a significant portion of the
Muslim world, but their joyless, austere hatred of the world is completely
divorced from the example of the Prophet they claim to honor. The
Prophet Muâmmad s was an optimist, and he counseled optimism.
Stories of daily life in Medina are filled with periods of humor, cultural
events, and festivities, even a delegation of Ethiopian dancers inside the
Holy Mosque in Medina—this alongside stories of hardship and privation.
According to the words of the Prophet Muâmmad s himself: “Make
things easy and do not make things difficult! Be of good cheer and do not
be repulsive.”51
Is Islamic Law PetriFIed?

So that we are not restructuring the entire discussion in a few years
when the principles of the coming modern worlds have altered, it is
important not to become mired in specific debates that will soon
become anachronistic. Is Islam democratic? Does it respect the rule of
secular law? Can Muslims accept pluralistic societies? How does Islam
hope to deal with the gender issue? All of these questions have been
discussed and addressed in the Muslim world long before they became
a prerequisite to inclusion in the modern world. And we will see in
this chapter what the central texts, preeminent scholars, and historical
realities reveal about the Islamic attitude towards these issues.
However, it is entirely probable that a whole new set of conditions will

be the prerequisites for entry into a future modern world. The most
central question for this discussion, then, is whether or not Islam lends
itself to the dynamic change. Are Islamic laws flexible? What devices, if
any, are built into the religion to allow for modification without losing its
principle dictates and core values? Can Islam respond to current human
conditions? Will it be able to respond in twenty years?
Three Syllables… Sounds Like Jihad

Hundreds of years of Islamic scholarship and mosque bookshelves filled
with more scholarly works than contained in city libraries are evidence of
a legacy that recognized not only the centrality of the Qur√¥n and Sunna
but also the need for human work to continuously establish the complete
religion of Islam. While the Prophet s exhorted his followers to hold fast
to the Qur√¥n and the Sunna, he also cautioned against expecting every
question to be answered by a verse.
When he sent the young and handsome Mu¢¥dh b. Jabal g to Yemen as

a judge, the Prophet s asked him how he would determine laws. Mu¢¥dh
replied that he would first look to the Qur√¥n and the Sunna. The
Prophet s persisted in the line of questioning, asking him: “And if you
find nothing therein?” Mu¢¥dh replied: “Then I will exert myself (ijtih¥d)
to form my own judgment.”52
Hashim Kamali explains ijtih¥d, which comes from the same root as
jihad, as “the total expenditure of effort made by a jurist in order to
infer, with a degree of probability, the rules of the Shariah from their
detailed evidence in the sources.”53 I highlight below only three of the
principles used in ijtih¥d that have allowed for a vibrant, dynamic
implementation of the religion of Islam over the centuries. These are
customary precedence (¢urf), distinction between universal and restricted
laws, and juristic preference (isti^s¥n). There is a whole array of many
other principles that are relevant to the discussion, but the length of this
work does not allow us to detail.
The Concept of ¢Urf (Customary Precedence)

A student of Islam can be forgiven for seeing Islam as a revolutionary
religion. Many of the changes that the Prophet Muâmmad s brought to
the seventh century Meccan society were certainly innovative and radical
at that time and for many centuries to come. Though a break from the
old order was part of the Islamic mission, the Prophet Muâmmad s did
not discard every single previously held custom, as long as they didn’t go
against the universal principals of Islam.
The practice of vani, or trading children in place of serving ones crime

penalties, which was prevalent among the Pashtuns of Northwest
Pakistan, is an example of a negative ¢urf that Islamic law condemns.
So is the practice of female genital mutilation in parts of Africa and the
Arabian peninsula. However, as the rule of legitimate law recedes and
outlaws come to the forefront, there is a return of these and other pre-
Islamic practices.
Universal versus Restricted

One of the techniques used by both Islamic extremists and adversaries
of Islam is selectively picking out verses from the Qur√¥n that further
their causes. An extremist will, for example, point to the verse  Slay
them wherever you find them as proof that violence against others is
permitted in Islam. An anti-Islamic pundit will do the same. What both
groups fail to acknowledge is that Islamic scholars have long recognized
the differences between the verses that are meant to be universally
applied and the verses that are circumscribed by a condition related to
a specific context; an ongoing war and an anticipation of one with the
polytheists in the time when these verses were revealed.
The Prophet Muâmmad s was the “Prophet of Mercy” sent to the

entire world, but he was also the head of the city-state of Medina. The
accusation of literalism that secular humanists charge religions with is
just as much a foe to traditional Islam as it is to the modern world.
The Concept of Isti±s®n (Juristic Preference)

Allah desires for you ease and goodness, not hardship (2:58)
Isti^s¥n literally means “seeing something as good, beautiful, or

preferable.”54 It is intended as a measure that seeks convenience and
ease and promotes tolerance and moderation. Though not all scholars
agree, the two schools of mainstream Islamic scholarship that are most
influential in immigrant Muslim communities—namely the ±anafÏ and
M¥likÏ schools—recognize and utilize this principle in order to make
the lives of Muslims living in non-Muslim countries less troublesome. In
the early days of the religion, scholars were empowered to make these
rulings even before they had an official name for the legal principle. The
Caliph ¢Umar g, for example, used this principle when ruling in a case
of inheritance. His decision was upheld by other prominent Companions
of the Prophet Muâmmad s and has been commonly used as a legal
precedent ever since.
None of these principles are intended to turn Islam into a free-for-all.
A scholar must achieve a high level of competency and proficiency in
religious knowledge before having the authority to issue a fatwa in
any case, much less one that deviates from the precedent.55 Though it
is no secret that the Islamic world suffers from a shortage of qualified
scholarship, the safeguards against amateur fatwa-giving serve to
discredit modern day Messiah-figures. Any such charlatans would
assume upon themselves the right to impose excommunication and

death penalties upon all of those whom they deem deserving. Hatim
Bazian, a lecturer at the University of California in Berkeley, illustrates
the absurdity of modern day fatwas and calls for jihad by comparing
them to a lay American deciding that a ruling of the Supreme Court is
no longer legitimate.
“Whatever You Are, I Am Not”

What makes democracy seem like the holy grail of human life today is
the apparent affluence and security of Western democratic nations. When
this affluence or security (or both) is absent, then clamoring for free
elections is meaningless. If the trappings of democracy are associated
with corruption and accumulation of wealth, then it usually follows that
traditional or more conservative cultures turn —be it illogically—to
the diametric opposite of democracy and free societies. This is why you
will find that most, if not all, extremist “Islamic” ideologies are closely
aligned with unrelenting Leninism. Furthermore, when free, democratic
societies start to lose their affluence, many within those societies start
to question their fundamental values. During and after the Great
Depression, a number of Americans flirted with the ideas of communism
and socialism as a response to what they saw as free market democracy.
“Isti^s¥n represents nine-tenth of human knowledge.”

—IMAM M®LIK, one of the four fathers of Islamic law
While Islam is compatible with democracy, to say that Islam is necessarily

democratic is an absurdity. Islam is a timeless universal revelation,
and it is much more than democracy. It is entirely possible that future
generations of Muslims will arrive at an arrangement that guarantees
individual rights and balances communal good in a way that is superior
to what we have today in democratic nations. At that time, that form of
governance will be more Islamic.
Mindsets
Another hallmark of progressive societies is their inclusiveness of
difference. Though it is clear that this ideal has yet to be realized fully,
few would argue for a society openly defined by rigid lines of race,
class, or creed. Unlike other “modern” values that are left somewhat
open ended in Islamic scripture, the concept of the equality of mankind
is unequivocal. For the first time in religious history, tolerance was
America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that
erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim
world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would
have been considered white—but the white attitude was removed from their
minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true
brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.
—MALCOLM X, writing from his pilgrimage to Mecca.
Malcolm X, returning from his trip to the Middle East and pilgrimage to Mecca
preached as a virtue by the Prophet Muâmmad s. Previously, it had

been seen as a vice, certainly not an integral part of religion.
When the Prophet Muâmmad s established Medina as a city-state

run on Islamic principles, the rights enshrined in the Charter of Medina
were extended to all members of the community, Muslim or not, male or
female, black or white, rich or poor.
In the Judeo-Christian telling of the story of Abraham e , Hagar j,

the mother of his son Ishmael e, is seen as a mere concubine. Islamic
traditions confer upon her the status of wife. Never can a Muslim cite
religious precedence as a reason to outlaw mixed-race marriages when
one of the greatest Prophets, Prophet Abraham e, a man Muslims send
blessings upon in every single daily prayer, took as his wife an African
bondswoman.
Arabia at the time of the Prophet’s birth was a cauldron of racism and
tribalism. One of the most revolutionary aspects of Muâmmad’s
message was the justice and fairness that he not only taught but actually
lived. Among his closest Companions were two former slaves, one a
black slave from Africa, the other a Persian slave from an empire detested
by the Arabs. To this day, both men are referred to by Muslims, black
and white, with the respectful appellative Sayyidun¥, “our master.”
After the Prophet’s days, his cousin ¢AlÏ g, the second person to accept
Muhammad’s prophethood and later the fourth Caliph, wrote to the man
he had appointed governor of Egypt, reminding him that those he ruled
over were, “either your brothers in religion, or your equals in creation.”
¢AlÏ g was once called before the previous Caliph ¢Umar g in
judgment against a Jewish citizen. When ¢Umar g saw him, he greeted
him respectfully as Ab‰ al-±asan and greeted the Jew by his proper
name. ¢Umar g saw ¢AlÏ’s g displeasure and later asked him if he was
offended by being put on equal footing with a Jewish man. Surprised,
¢AlÏ explained that his displeasure arose from having been shown greater
respect than the Jewish man.
Imam al-Ghaz¥lÏ, the great eleventh century theologian, compared

man’s attempt to put himself above his fellow man with Satan’s original
sin of arrogance.
Every time a rich man believes that he is better than a poor one,
or a white man believes that he is better than a black one, then he
is being arrogant. He is adopting the same hierarchical principles
adopted by Iblis [Satan] in his ignorance, and thus falling into
shirk [opposite of monotheism].56
Convivencia Now
But perhaps nothing in recent memory can compare to the tradition of
Convivencia (Coexistence) that existed in Medieval Muslim Spain. Perhaps
most poignant because of the jarring events of the Inquisition that were to
follow, Muslims, Jews, Christians, and philosophers of dubious allegiance
and communities from all over the Mediterranean lived, for nearly seven
hundred years, in virtually uninterrupted harmony. This was no fairy tale.
There were stories of violence and discord, but the legacy left by the period
of Islamic rule in southern Spain was one of tolerance that was absolutely
singular in Europe and would continue to be so for many centuries to follow.
This was the chapter of Europe’s history when Jews, Christians, and
Muslims lived side-by-side and, despite their intractable differences
and enduring hostilities, nourished a complex culture of tolerance.
This culture of tolerance recognized that incongruity in the shaping of
individuals as well as their cultures was enriching and productive.57
Oddly enough, this model was almost realized again in the most unlikely
place, Sarajevo. By the sixteenth century, this city had grown from an
outpost to one of the centers of commerce of the European wing of the
Ottoman Empire. Here, once again, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived
and labored together. Cultural, religious, and linguistic diversity was seen as
a matter of practicality, of course, but eventually, it was a matter of pride.
Unfortunately, we know how this story ends, and the parallels with the end
of Spanish Convivencia are eerie. But perhaps these are merely chapter
endings and we will see Convivencia reborn in Sarajevo and Spain once again.
In Sarajevo, Bosnia in 1941, a close ally of Adolf Hilter declared that the
state should eliminate all Jews and Serbs. Having lived side-by-side as
neighbors for many years, scores of Jews, Gypsies, and Serbs sought and
found refuge with their Muslim countrymen. One man who has been singled
out for his heroic “resistance” was the Albanian Muslim scholar Dervis
Korkut, then the chief librarian at the Bosnian National Museum. Educated
in Istanbul and France, Korkut wrote many articles vehemently defending

Sarajevo’s Jewish population. But his courage was not limited to words.
In 1942, a ruthless Nazi commander by the name of Johann Fortner

arrived at the museum and demanded that Korkut turn in any Jewish
literature. The museum’s greatest treasure was a fifteenth century Hebrew
Haggadah (Passover book) written during the period of Islamic Spain.
This book had survived expulsion and book burning centuries before, and
Korkut was determined to do all he could to preserve it, even if it endangered
his life. He hid the book under his clothes, enduring the Nazi officer’s tour
of the museum, and eventually placed it under the care of the Imam of the
Mosque of Sarajevo where it remained safe until the end of the war.
The story of Korkut’s efforts to save this priceless piece of history is

singular. What is not singular is the story of his saving a young Jewish
girl named Mira by housing her with his own family until he found
her safe passage to Italy. In this, he is like countless other Bosnians and
A strong culture permits diversity; a strong culture permits freedom of thought,

deviation from the framework. When the Abbasid Period [750–1258 AD] was at
its height, it became a culture of self-confidence. When there is confidence like
this, you permit space and freedom. Lack of self-confidence leads to the lowest
cultural point, from all aspects—human rights, women’s rights. In the Arab
empire, there was more freedom than in the Arab world today.
—SALMAN MASALHA, Israeli Arab intellectual and poet
Albanians who would have rather died themselves than allow for their
neighbors to be rounded up and slaughtered because of their religion.
Albania itself was the only country under Nazi control where the Jewish
population actually rose up during the war. Every single Jewish life was
spared. As Enver Alia Sheger, the son of one of the “Muslim Schindlers”
honored by the Yad Vashem, explained: “Why did my father save a
stranger at the risk of his life and the entire village? My father was a
devout Muslim. He believed that to save one life is to enter paradise.”
After the Danish cartoon controversy, a Jewish lawyer wrote an article

that retold the story of the Prophet Muâmmad s sitting with his
Companions when a funeral procession passed. The Prophet rose and
when the Companions responded: “But it is the funeral of a Jew,” the
Prophet turned to them and asked: “Is he not a human soul? Rise.”58
This âdÏth is well known to Muslims, but I was struck by how moved
the author of the article was upon reading the word “Rise.” For him, the
reverence and humanity that crossed cultural and religious borders serves
as a timeless lesson in respect.
Synthesis: The Solution

Because Muslims are not any more monolithic than the West, you will
find any number of them who wholeheartedly and uncritically embrace
every modern dictate in politics, science, or culture. However, are
there thoughtful, cool-headed Muslims critical of some aspects of the
modern world? Undoubtedly so. It is their duty to be so. Pluralism has
no meaning if there is no dissent; and dissent has no meaning if it is not
rooted in an alternate, constructive viewpoint.
Muslims—those of faith—will always remain alienated by the modern
world’s cynicism and materialism. One of the hallmarks of the Muslim
community is that there remains, for the most part, a high level of
religious certainty for people at every level of education despite assertions
that any claim to certainty is archaic and backwards and leads to
chauvinism. Muslims do look backwards in order to keep hold of the
complete message. They do not believe that their religion needs either
evolution or a reformation, but rather a return to its principles.
The clash is not between Islam and the West, or Islam and modernity,
but between two mindsets. One that recognizes a Higher Authority and
acknowledges Him in one’s daily life, that recognizes that the death of
the body does not mark the death of the soul. Another that recognizes
only the supremacy of the “now and on.”
There is far more that the West can gain from Islam and Muslims than
merely cautionary tales of the need to distance ourselves from religion.
And as economic and cultural crises continue to spiral out of control, the
world’s leaders will certainly need to avail themselves of the long legacy
of Islamic solutions.
“As a religious faith and as a social and political worldview, Islam has a vital part
to play in the modern world alongside those competing and complementary
worldviews embedded in modern sciences and ideologies.”
—MAJID TEHRANIAN, Islam and the West: Hostage to History?
Dervis Korkut, Chief Librarian at the Bosnian National Museum was credited with
saving a fifteenth century Passover book from destruction at the hands of Nazis
NOTES
1
Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, One God, Many Names, 3.
2
Ibid, 4.
3
From “The Wine Ode” poem (al-khamrÏyya) of ¢Umar ibn al-F¥ri\.
See Emil Homerin (tr.). ¢Umar ibn al-F¥ri\: Sufi Verse, Saintly life, 43.
4
Imam al-Bukh¥rÏ, ßa^Ï^ al-Bukh¥rÏ.
5
Ibid.
6
Imam al-Bukh¥rÏ, al-Adab al-Mufrad.
7
8
9
Ibid.
10
Imam al-Bukh¥rÏ, al-Adab al-Mufrad.
11
12
Ibid.
13
Imam Muslim, ßa^Ï^ Muslim.
14
15
Islamic theology categorically rejects the possibility of God or any
of His attributes—including that of His speech—being incarnate in
either a person or object. When a Muslim refers to the Word of God,
he or she is recognizing that these words were chosen by God to
communicate His will to His servants. In other words, they have no
other author, but they are not in any way a “part” of God.
Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs: From the Earliest Times to the
16
Present, 93.
17
Imam al-D¥rimÏ, Sunan al-D¥rimÏ.
18
Imam al-TirmidhÏ, Sunan.
19
20
Ibid.
21
See also Qur√¥n 29:59 and 16:42.
22
Imam Muslim, ßa^Ï^ Muslim.
23
Al-BayhaqÏ, Dal¥’il al-Nubuwwa.
NOTES 139
24
25
Ibid.
26
Tamim Ansary, Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through
Arab Eyes, 128–129.
27
Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors, & Englishmen in the Age of Discovery, 9.
Karen Armstrong, “Medieval Prejudice Still Influences the West’s
28
View of Islam,” Dawn. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/

27b/095.html (accessed December, 2009).
Quoted in Rosamond Mark, Bazaar to Piazza: Islamic Trade and
29
Italian Art 1300–1600, 1.

30
Jonathan Lyons, The House of Wisdom, 147.
31
Nu|ayba b. Ka¢b j was a woman from Medina who fought alongside
the Prophet Muâmmad s during the Battle of Uûd after many of
the men had deserted their posts. The Prophet s later said that every
direction he turned, he seemed to find Nu|ayba j there, fighting
bravely. She was one of the first people of Medina to swear allegiance
to the Prophet s and was revered by the most senior Companions
who, like Ab‰ Bakr g and ¢Umar g, sought her counsel and wisdom.
32
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Heart of Islam, 251.
33
Imam al-TirmidhÏ, Sunan.
34
35
Huston Smith, Islam: A Concise Introduction, 65.
Stephen Robertson, “Age of Consent Laws,” Children and Youth
36
in History.
Elizabeth Landau, “Men See Bikini-Clad Women as Objects,
37
Psychologists Say.”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/19/women.bikinis.objects/
(accessed November, 2009).
38
Ab‰ D¥w‰d, Sunan.
39
Muâmmad al->¥hir b. al-¢®sh‰r, al-Ta^rÏr wa al-TanwÏr.
40
41
Ibid.
42
Imam al-DaylamÏ, Musnad al-Firdaws.
43
Imam al->abarÏ, T¥rÏkh al->abarÏ, T¥rÏkh al-Khil¥fa al-R¥shida.
44
Fred Donner, “The Sources of Islamic Conceptions of War,”
in Dr. Sherman Jackson, “Jihad and the Modern World,” Seasons 1
(Spring, Summer 2003): 6.
Dr. Sherman Jackson, “Jihad and the Modern World,” Seasons 1
45
(Spring, Summer 2003): 9.

James Zogby, “Saudis Reject Bin Laden and Terrorism,” Media
46
Monitors Network, August 12, 2003, http://www.mediamonitors.net/

zogby99.html (accessed November, 2009).
47
http://www.int-review.org/terr42a.html (accessed November, 2009).
48
49
Such as the now infamous cartoons printed in the Danish newspaper.
Christopher Dickey,“Christian Rage and Muslim Moderation,”
50
Newsweek, May 27, 2008.

51
52
Imam A^mad, Musnad.
53
Hashim Kamali, Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence, 153.
54
Ibid, 162.
55
The fourteenth century Spanish scholar al-Sh¥~ibÏ says about isti^s¥n:
“It entails giving priority to empowered deduction over analogy.
Whoever uses isti^s¥n does not refer to only his inclination and desire.
He refers to what he knows of the intention of the Lawgiver in those
kinds of theoretical matters, like the questions in which the people
would give a certain judgment were it not that said matter would lead
to the loss of benefit from a different aspect or would bring about evil
in the same way…In some cases, analogy without restriction would
lead to distress and hardship, and so there is an exception for the
place of distress.” (al-Muw¥faq¥t, pt. 4, p. 116)
Azizah Al-Hibri, An Islamic Perspective on Domestic Violence, 6.
56
Fordham International Law Journal 195, December 2003.

57
Menocal, Maria Rosa, The Ornament of the World, How Muslims,
NOTES 141
Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval

Spain, 11–12.
58
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
A
Allah: The Arabic name of the God of monotheism; composed of a built-in
Arabic definite article “al” (the) and “il¥h” (one who is worshiped in truth).
¢urf: The principal of customary precedence in Islamic jurisprudential
methodology.
adab: Proper etiquette.
C
Caliph: A temporal leader of the Muslim community.
Convivencia: The tradition of multifaith existence in Muslim Spain.
D
dhimma: A guaranteed pact of security given to non-Muslims living
under Muslim rule.
F
fi~ra: The natural state of purity that each person is born with.
H
âdÏth: A saying or a recorded action of Prophet s; the second source
Islamic knowledge after the Qur√¥n.
±ajj: The major pilgrimage to the Ka¢ba in Mecca.
âjÏ: A pilgrim.
âqq: Responsibility and truth.
hijab: Islamic head covering.
hijra: The immigration of the Prophet s from Mecca to Medina.
I
ijtih¥d: An exertion of scholarly judgment.
isti^s¥n: The preference of “juristic preference” in Islamic jurisprudential
methodology.
J
j¥hilÏyya: Ignorance or barbarism; term used to mark the pre-Islamic era.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS 143
jizya: The defense tax of non-Muslims living under Muslim rule.
K
Ka¢ba: The first structure built for the purpose of worshiping the One
True God.
Kharijites: A splinter Muslim group that caused the assassination of
Imam ¢AlÏ, the fourth Rightly Guided Caliph g.
M
ma¢r‰f: What is known to be good; a principal of Islamic jurisprudential
methodology.
madrasa: An Islamic educational institution or school.
magh¥zÏ: Military expeditions; the literary genre of writing about
military expeditions.
muezzin: A caller to Islamic prayer.
mu¢¥mal¥t: Civic and interpersonal transactions.
Q
Qur√¥n: The Holy Book of Islam; the words of God dictated to the
Prophet Muâmmad s through the Angel Gabriel e.
R
Rama\¥n: The holiest month of the Islamic calendar. It was during the
month of Rama\¥n that the Prophet Muâmmad s received the first
revelation of the Qur√¥n. During this month, Muslims fast from dawn
to dusk.
S
|adaqa: A voluntary act of charity.
sal¥m: Peace.
sayyidun¥: The honorary title “our master.”
Shariah: The Revealed Law of Islam.
shirk: Idolatry; the act of associating partners with God.
sh‰r¥: Consultation
Sunna: 1) The way the Prophet Muâmmad s did things. 2) A category
of rulings for acts that when done, entail reward but are not obligatory.
U
Umma: The Muslim Community
Z
Zakat: The obligatory alms, giving 2.5 percent of one’s wealth each year.
One of the five pillars of Islam.
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In the Name of God

Most Merciful and Compassionate

Islam and Muslims: A Tapestry of Faith: Samah Marei

Commissioned by Zayed House for Islamic Culture, UAE.

ZHIC has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs

I was blessed to work with a team of editors who shared an important

about zayed house for islamic culture

Zayed House for Islamic Culture (ZHIC) is a specialized independent

ZHIC focuses on promoting Islamic culture, and building bridges

about sheikh zayed

Sheikh Zayed was born in 1918 in the city of

a message from zayed house for islamic culture

As such, Zayed House for Islamic Culture strives to be an institute that

Zayed House for Islamic Culture is pleased to present the Introduction

Zayed House for Islamic Culture

about the author

Samah Marei is the creator of The Whole Story, a diversity training

formulaic arabic expressions

s (ßalla-ll¥hu ¢alayhi wa sallam) an invocation of God’s blessings and

e (¢Alayhis-sal¥m) an invocation of God’s blessings and peace upon a

f (¢Alayhimus-sal¥m) an invocation of God’s blessings and peace upon

g (Ra\iyall¥hu ¢anhu) an invocation of God’s pleasure with a male

j (Ra\iyall¥hu ¢anh¥) an invocation of God’s pleasure with a female

l (Ra\iyall¥hu ¢anhum) an invocation of God’s pleasure with the

Part II: The Embodiment of Islam

Part III: Ideals and Realities

ABOUT THIS SERIES

Previous books seem to have addressed the needs of some questioners,

There is a generation of us, culturally adrift, who have grown up

Muslims—again the generalization—believe their religion requires no

What was most striking about the unapologetic nature of such

TAW±¬D: THE ONENESS OF GOD

Taw^Ïd is the deﬁning characteristic of identity in the community of

ISLAM = submission, [to God]

Questions arise around the differences between the terminologies: is

Islam is painstakingly precise when it comes to deﬁning the acceptable

Michelangelo apparently wrestled with this when painting the Sistine

answer to his unasked question in the words of an accomplished Muslim

Clearness without water. Gentleness without breeze.

Though completely unique and dissimilar to creation, Allah is not remote

The Names of Allah

These ninety-nine names revealed through the Prophet Mu^ammad s

The immensity of a mother’s compassion is only a fraction of a fraction of

Mercy is through contemplation of a mother’s care for her young. The

Another tradition (^adÏth) reminds that even the immensity of a mother’s

The Presence of God in Daily Life

When given the choice of commanding the absolute destruction of a tribe

A Muslim’s Relationship with the Prophet Mu±ammad s

Rows of arches line the Mosque of the Prophet s in Medina

This is perhaps another reason why Muslims appear to stand out so

Jesus f And Mu±ammad s

The cave of ±ir¥, where the Prophet s ﬁrst received revelation

at with blurry-lensed indulgence. The most frequent comparison pits

Empathy and benevolence

Ghawrath b. al-±¥rith, one of the Meccan enemies, came to assassinate

When a delegation arrived from Ethiopia, the Prophet s got up to

When his Companions used to call him: “O Best of Creation,” he would

Forbearance and Ease

Just For Good Measure

The love, veneration, and attempt to emulate the Prophet of Islam s

The Word of God

A page from the Qur√¥n, dating back to the Mamluk Dynasty

The Qur√¥n is often referred to as the Muslim Bible. This is a legitimate