Verified answer. The site is known for a sarcastic, irreverent tone and a strong conservative bent. Minds are not changed merely through acquiring data or information (if that were the case it would take no effort to convince Americans that Obama is, in fact, a Christian). Whatever truths they convey have little to do with historical fact., In many ways, the partition of India was the inevitable result of three centuries of Britains divide-and-rule policy. I hope Islamic reformists are successful in curbing the excesses of fanatics. God is most great (Allahu Akbar), God is most great, God is most great, God is most great, I witness that there is no god but Allah (the God); I witness that there is no god but Allah. And since the doctrine of Tawhid insists on the oneness of God, the Sufis argue, then reality must also be unique. Heres an illustration of his outlook: If the childhood stories about Muhammed seem familiar, it is because they function as a prophetic topos: a conventional literary theme that can be found in most mythologies. . . Third, Aslans account of the origin and development of Islam follows a dubious principle of secular historical practice. A SUMMARY CRITIQUE NO GOD BUT GOD: The Reinterpretation of Islam a book review of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan . The Meaning of Life: What is our purpose on Earth? This updated edition addresses the events of the past decade, analyzing how they have influenced Islam's position in modern culture. Thoughtful Christians need historical perspective to develop a strategy for educating themselves about the opportunities and challenges that have emerged in Islam in recent years. It strikes me that since there are so many variant translations and editions that could be manipulated to mean anything, every group will continue to strive for what Mohammad intended by projecting their own beliefs on him. Other chapters explore the concept of jihad, Sufi mysticism, and the Islamic response to colonialism up through the early twentieth century. Inshallah. On the other hand, the barrage of information is withering. It did seem that Aslan's own let's say, predispositions were coming through. But lately Ive learned that King fought for more than African American rights. ASH is a website for cultural outreach, and to unite people who seek goodness and knowledge. No god but God (Updated Edition) by Reza Aslan: 9780812982442 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books A fascinating, accessible introduction to Islam from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Zealot and host of Believer FINALIST FOR THE GUARDIAN. But this is what I call uzum, replied the Turk. In short, a really interesting book for both Muslims and anyone who wants to know more about the origins and growth of this Abrahamic faith. . Tawil delves into the concealed message of the text, which, because of its mystical nature, is comprehensible only to a select few. Therefore, the entity God can be seen as dead in so much of the identity or character God no longer exists, but is still there in the universe. Belief in the existence of God (or gods) is definitional of theism and characteristic of many (though not all) religious traditions. Second, paradoxically, authors of books and magazine articles, bloggers, and interviewees on radio and television bombard us with perspective. This cornucopia of informants is a mixed blessing, however. Even presuming the raft of hostile orientalists he draws from represented the most neutral and authoritative of western scholarship on Islam, the author's own tone and framing make it needlessly more odious. The Islamic Reformation is already here. Of course you may argue that every author has their own belief and whatnot. The Quran suffered a similar fate, as different schools of interpretation emerged. My impression is that he is a sincere monotheist who believes that Islam is greatly in need of reform, that this reform requires reinterpretation of Islams history and sources of authority (the Quran and sharia law), that reinterpretation along these lines is nevertheless faithful to Muhammads original vision, which included, most fundamentally, a commitment to social egalitarianism, and that being a Muslim is more a matter of ethnic orientation and cultural conditioning than it is of maintaining allegiance to a particular creed, beyond the shahadah. A very good, eye-opening, mind-blowing read on the foundation and development of Islam as a religion, movement, identify, community, or in short, the. . Overall a very good book on Islam. Public awareness of Islam, the worlds fastest-growing religion, has gone from the basement of our consciousness through the roof, and is now somewhere in the stratosphere, but six years hence, this still has not translated into useful knowledge for very many people. I adored Zealot and was charmed by Aslans ability to present a complicated history and an important mythology with clarity and precision. The categorization and separation of native peoples was a common tactic for maintaining colonial control over territories whose national boundaries had been arbitrarily drawn with little consideration for the ethnic, cultural, or religious makeup of the local inhabitants. The argument became heated as each man insisted on having what he desired. Chapter 2 explains the emergence of Islam in its initial socioeconomic context. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016. Sites like SparkNotes with a No god but God study guide or cliff notes. He believes that all religion is conceived, incubated, weaned, and matured almost entirely in response to sociocultural conditions. Religion is the story of faith., But what is most desperately needed is not so much a better appreciation of our neighbors religion as a broader, more complete understanding of religion itself., Like so many prophets before him, Muhammad never claimed to have invented a new religion. The next day, when Abdallah saw the same woman again, he asked her, Why do you not make the same proposition to me today that you made to me yesterday? The woman replied, The light which was with you yesterday has left you. R. Douglas Geivet, PhD, is professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. There is no god but God may refer to: The beginning of the shahada, the Muslim profession of faith Tawhid, the Muslim concept of the oneness and uniqueness of God No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, a 2005 book about Islam by Reza Aslan A Bill Kenny song sung by Elvis Presley on the album He Touched Me (album) Muhammad also forbade a husband to touch his wifes dowry, forcing him instead to provide for his family from his own wealth. This is an online-exclusive from theChristian Research Journal. By their very nature, myths inhere both legitimacy and credibility. I felt clouds parting in my brain and was able to comprehend some of the glories of the religion, and the hatred and factionalism, too. Oh man. In No god but God, internationally acclaimed scholar Reza Aslan explains Islamthe origins and evolution of the faithin all its beauty and complexity. It was the followers who came after both of them that twisted their message. It would seem that for a state to be Islamic in any meaningful sense, it would have to be informed by Islamic religious ideals. From this perspective, Reza Aslan retells the story of Islam. We found no such entries for this book title. Tawhid means that God is Oneness. Too many instances dispute my current knowledge of the prophets life. ()- ' ' . The Hanifists were pre-Islamic monotheists who were in some significant sense indigenous to the Arabian peninsula. When I thought Martin Luther King Jr., I would think of the Civil Rights Movement, the March on Washington, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the seminal I Have a Dream. My understanding of him was limited to a single optic, that of racial justice. Your existence is my own, and it is also my will., All that matters is to be on a path, to be constantly moving toward the topone measured, controlled, and strictly supervised step at a timepassing diligently through specific abodes and stations along the Way, each of which is marked by an ineffable experience of spiritual evolution, until one finally reaches the end of the journey: that moment of enlightenment in which the veil of reality is stripped away, the ego obliterated, and the self utterly consumed by God., The loss of Abu Talibs protection was certainly demoralizing, if not detrimental to Muhammads physical security. (with Bonus Content) A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity Author: Nabeel Qureshi Publisher: Zondervan ISBN: Category: Religion Page: 319 View: 182 DOWNLOAD NOW BONUS: This eBook includes downloadable videos and a Q&A with Nabeel Qureshi that are not found in the print edition. He relies on this in his defense of the early history of Islam and of the peculiarities of Islamic tradition and the challenges of Quranic interpretation. This review first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 30, number 3 (2007). With this simple profession of faith, Muhammad was declaring to Mecca that the God of the heavens and the earth required no intermediate whatsoever, but could be accessed by anyone., The occultation of the Twelfth Imam, or the, The relationship between the Jews and pagan Arabs was symbiotic in that not only were the Jews heavily Arabized, but the Arabs were also significantly influenced by Jewish beliefs and practices., For most of the Western world, September 11, 2001, signaled the commencement of a worldwide struggle between Islam and the Westthe ultimate manifestation of the clash of civilizations. I found a copy of No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam in my uni's library, and from what I've heard, it's a revisionist take on the origins and codification of Islam that seeks to bridge traditional interpretations of the Qur'an and hadiths with their historical background - almost like a religion-oriented Guns, Gunpowder Overall the book deals with the history of Islam from the perspective of the prophet, Mohammed as a social reformer fighting for equal rights for men. I am unable to say, And they are unable to hear., The concept of fasting was extraneous to the bedouin experience (it would have been absurd to voluntarily deprive oneself of food or water in a desert climate), there is no doubt that Mohammed mutated this ritual for the Jews of the Arabian Peninsula, which the Quran itself admits by declaring: Fasting is prescribed for you, just as it was prescribed for those who preceded you (2: 183). Like the infancy narratives in the Gospels, these stories are not intended to relate historical events, but to elucidate the mystery of the prophetic experience.Again, the historicity of these topoi is irrelevant. Reviews in The Guardian display a strong grasp of the subject matter, and are able to analyze whether the book accomplished its goal. . Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. But the real joy is Aslans prose. They present radically different views of God and salvation and only one can be true. The book details the succession of various caliphs who led the religion and skillfully veers off into side-stories about more modern developments such as the revolution in Iran, the results of. All four craved food, but the Persian wanted to spend the coin on angur; the Turk, on uzum; the Arab, on inab; and the Greek, on stafil. Many reviews are behind a subscriber paywall. Clearly, education and tolerance are essential., Because the concept of the Trinity is not explicitly mentioned in the New Testament (the term was coined by one of the oldest and most formidable church fathers, Tertullian of Carthage, early in the third century C.E. . Reza Aslan's book No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, first published in March 2005 by Random House, is the young Shiite intellectual's first attempt to lay the ideological foundations towards a direction of Islamic reform which is based on theological approach. Tafsir answers questions of context and chronology, providing an easily understandable framework for Muslims to live a righteous life. Aslan explores the history of Islam, from it nascent beginnings in the previously obscure Arabian desert, to the unprecedent bourgeoning of its power, as it spread from Spain to Northern India, evolving in countless different directions, under the guise of a million and one different messages all linked to a single figure named Mohammed, a merchant turned prophet, whose message transformed a series of small Arab tribes into one of the most powerful religious forces the world has ever seen. Howeverand this is the most important aspect of the parablethe linguist can offer the travelers only the grapes and nothing more. ASH is a website for cultural outreach, and to unite people who seek goodness and knowledge. Rather, the Christian Reformation was an argument over the future of the faitha violent, bloody argument that engulfed Europe in devastation and war for more than a century., As is the case with most prophets, Muhammads birth was accompanied by signs and portents. I am not certain how useful the comparison is for Aslan today, especially with his desire for an Islamically informed, indigenous democracy. He is author of many books, includingEvil and the Evidence for God(Temple University Press, 1995), Faith, Film, and Philosophy: Big Ideas on the Big Screen(InterVarsity Press, forthcoming), andPhilosophy of Religion(Rowman and Littlefield, also forthcoming). The reviewer describes their feelings about the story and characters along with a brief plot summary. The final word in the verse, adribuhunna, which Fakhry has rendered as beat them, can equally mean turn away from them, go along with them, and, remarkably, even have consensual intercourse with them. If religion is indeed interpretation, then which meaning one chooses to accept and follow depends on what one is trying to extract from the text: if one views the Quran as empowering women, then Alis; if one looks to the Quran to justify violence against women, then Fakhrys.translators of the Quran.. God willing., As a text, the Quran is more than the foundation of the Islamic religion; it is the source of Arabic grammar. (Here, as elsewhere, Aslan strays from traditional accounts in the interests of historical accuracy. He blames Western imperialism and the misinterpretations of Islamic law by past scholars for the current controversies within Islam, questioning the clash of civilizations thesis that peoples cultural and religious identity will be the primary source of world conflict in the post Cold War era. Because of the variability of the Arabic language, both of these translations are grammatically, syntactically, and definitionally correct. If the husband died, his wife would inherit a portion of his property; if he divorced her, the entire dowry was hers to take back to her family. This book really took the top of my head off. As the quintessential colonialist, Cromer had no interest in the plight of Muslim women; the veil was, for him, an icon of the backwardness of Islam, and the most visible justification for Europes civilizing mission in the Middle East., Grateful for their generosity, Muhammad orders the land to be leveled, the graves dug up, and the palm trees cut down for timber to build a modest home. In his book No God but God, Reza Aslan claims that "In all, there are said to be three hundred sixty idols housed in and around the Kaba, representing every god recognized in the Arabian Peninsula." Therefore people from all over Arabia congregated in this area to worship their gods. The author argues that the Quran does not command women to be covered with the veil, and that the concept of jihad was intended solely for defensive purposes. We got a stomach bug in the house.. Zachs down and out . When fourteen centuries ago Muhammed launched a revolution in Mecca to replace the archaic, rigid, and inequitable strictures of tribal society with a radically new vision of divine morality and social egalitarianism, he tore apart the fabric of traditional Arab society. Aslan says nothing about the boundaries of a legitimate, democratic Islamic state. "Religion, it must be understood, is not faith. This timetable reflects Aslans desire to educate non-Muslim Westerners about Islam in the wake of 9/11. While the Shiah sometimes employ this definition for their religious leaders as well, they also recognize a fixed number of Imamsthe number of whom depends on the sect of Shiismwho, as the Prophets legitimate successors, bear the responsibility of guarding and preserving Muhammads divine message., Despite the common perception in the West, the Muslim conquerors did not force conversion upon the conquered peoples; indeed, they did not even encourage it. The book was a best seller. A wave of democratic fervor across the Middle East created a renewed sense of hope for scores of people who had spent their lives in autocratic societies but who now looked forward to the possibility of having a say, even if in the most limited of ways, in their own political destinies. This would be compelling if 1) he ever returns to this argument in any sustained fashion later in the book and 2) if he understood the Reformation as anything more than a violent religious response to modernity that threw off authority. Aslan explains the development of Muhammads prophetic consciousness as a series of smaller, indescribable supernatural experiences that climaxed in a final violent encounter with the divine (36). In No god but God, challenging the "clash of civilizations" mentality that has distorted our view of Islam, Aslan explains this critical faith in all its complexity, beauty, and compassion. Language The phrase qawwamuna ala an-nisa can be understood as watch over, protect, support, attend to, look after, or be in charge of women. Italian As a Christian who grew up in a . He is the copy of God, in the words of al-Arabis greatest disciple, Abdul Karim al-Jili: he is the mirror in which the divine attributes are perfectly reflected; the medium through which God is made manifest., More than a thousand years before Christ, Zarathustra preached the existence of a heaven and a hell, the idea of a bodily resurrection, the promise of a universal savior who would one day be miraculously born to a young maiden, and the expectation of a final cosmic battle that would take place at the end of time between the angelic forces of good and the demonic forces of evil., It is a shame that this word, myth, which originally signified nothing more than stories of the supernatural, has come to be regarded as synonymous with falsehood, when in fact myths are always true. I have to be up front that I knew nothing about Muhammad and so it was great place to begin. Brenna Clarke Gray, . A fascinating, accessible introduction to Islam from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Zealot and host of Believer FINALIST FOR THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD In No god but God, internationally acclaimed scholar Reza Aslan explains Islamthe origins and evolution of the faithin all its beauty and complexity. It took many years of violence and devastation to cleanse the Hijaz of its false idols. It will take many more to cleanse Islam of its new false idolsbigotry and fanaticismworshipped by those who have replaced Muhammeds original vision of tolerance and unity with their own ideals of hatred and discord. I dont want to spoil the ending by saying any more than that. Are they now going to inherit just like men who have worked to earn that money? Muhammads response to these complaints was both unsympathetic and shockingly unyielding. He then returned to the men and gave them each a bunch. At the center of these developments were political machinations as well as simple practical exigencies. He was also an ardent defender of the poor, a great activist in the face of corporate America, indeed a man who aligned himself with all of the weak against all of the powerful. While the details of the Amirs religion have been lost to history, most scholars are convinced that by the sixth century C.E., [Quoting the Quranic passage in chapter 3 verse 84]. He was in a monogamous relationship with her until she died. Because it immersed me in a religion I don't know in a compelling way, and gave me enough of a platform of information to perhaps start seeking other answers, and for that I'll overlook a lot. If there is only one God, then there may be only one truth, and that can easily lead to bloody conflicts of irreconcilable absolutisms., One would be tempted to call the members of such a new community Muslims (literally those who are submissive to God). Not that I totally trusted Aslan's account. India was, until recently, governed by partisans of an litist theology of Hindu Awakening (Hindutva) bent on applying an implausible but enormously successful vision of true Hinduism to the state. The Arabian desert was the habitation, geopolitically, of warring tribes, and religiously, of waning pluralism. The book deals with the history of Islam and provides arguments over the liberal interpretation of the religion. God resembles nothing in either essence or attributes., Muhammads example must have had a lasting effect on his early followers: as Nabia Abbott has shown, throughout the first two centuries of Islam, Muslims regularly read the Torah alongside the Quran., Consider, for example, how the following verse (4:34) regarding the obligations of men toward women has been rendered into English by two different but widely read contemporafirst is from the Princeton edition, translated by Ahmed Ali; the second is from Majid Fakhrys translation, published by New York University: The Quran is Gods direct self-revelation to humanity. Given sentence below refers to a numbered sentence in the passage. Sites with a book review or quick commentary on No god but God by Reza Aslan. . You will have a direct line to ASH, for any questions you have: you will only be one email away from ASH. The Call of Islam Summary:The shahadah is comprised of two fundamental faith statements in Islam that "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God." This spiritual calling is expressed through auditory calls to prayers or adhan five times a day. He valued her and she was his advisor, advocate, lover and friend. This in my language is stafil, said the Greek. Having divorced myself from Islam a couple of years back but continued to struggle with a lot of resentment regarding current "theological" and cultural affairs, coming across this book parted some clouds in my mind. But this will be more than a home. Sunni and Shiites had always been merely exotic names but for the first time I could understand why these groups might despise each other all these centuries later. As for women you feel are averse, talk to them suasively; then leave them alone in bed (without molesting them) and go to bed with them (when they are willing). According to the Islamic statement of witness, or shahada, "There is no god but Allah". That year, 622 C.E., will forever be known as Year 1 A.H. (After Hijra); and the oasis that for centuries had been called Yathrib will henceforth be celebrated as Medinat an-Nabi: The City of the Prophet, or more simply, Medina., The Shiah believe that salvation requires the intercession of Muhammad, his son-in-law Ali, his grandsons Hasan and Husayn, and the rest of the Prophets legitimate successors, the Imams, who not only serve as humanitys intercessors on the Last Days, but who further function as the eternal executors (wali) of the divine Revelation., The word Imam has multiple connotations. The Green Movement in Iran lit the fuse, employing new social media technologies like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to break the governments monopoly over the media and to demonstrate to the world their aspiration for freedom and liberty., Unshackled by the state, the Ulama were now free to ascend to a position of unquestioned religious authority in the Ummah, which they used not only to institutionalize their legal and theological opinions into distinct schools of thought but also to formulate a binding, comprehensive code of conduct called the Shariah, forever transforming Islam from a religion into an all-embracing way of life: one that the Ulama claimed sole authority to define., As the ninth-century legal scholar Malik ibn Anas, founder of the Maliki school of law, once quipped, This religion is a science, so pay close attention to those from whom you learn it., Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window). A democratic state can be established upon any normative moral framework as long as pluralism remains the source of its legitimacy. No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam (Reza Aslam), Quran Interpretations of the COVID19 Pandemic, The rainbow, a Sign of Peace in the Bible, A must-read book for anyone who is not only interested in learning more about the world of Islam in the past and nowadays, but also for all those who seek the historical truth of facts through the path of the, Each chapter of the book deals with a specific topic within Islam. He suggests that if ever there is a conflict between the two, it must be the interpretation of Islam that yields to the reality of democracy, not the other way around (266). English, l-nsi il popolo ; i popoli ; le nazioni Read more , The five pillars of Islam (arkn al-Islm ; also Read more , A doxology (Ancient Greek: doxologia, from , doxa, glory Read more , raqiya sky ; firmament ; heaven Read more , Assiah (or Asiyah, also known as Olam Asiyah, Read more , Abrahamic Study Hall 2015-2023 - Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy - About Us, I just wanted to remind you of a statement that represents the thinking here at ASH (Abrahamic Study Hall): I disagree with Aslan - it matters a great deal whether the beliefs of a religious community are shaped by actual historical events (including amazing ones) or whether such beliefs are based on falsehood. Aslan begins his apologetic story talking of modern Islam as in a period of reformation, comparing it to the Reformation of the 16th century. Christian Concerns. We are all living in it. Worse, as the first generation of Companions passed on, the community had to rely increasingly on the reports that the second generation of Muslims (known as the Tabiun) had received from the first; when the second generation died, the community was yet another step removed from the actual words and deeds of the Prophet. xxxi-xxxii). Thus, with each successive generation, the chain of transmission, or isnad, that was supposed to authenticate the hadith grew longer and more convoluted, so that in less than two centuries after Muhammads death, there were already some seven hundred thousand hadith being circulated throughout the Muslim lands, the great majority of which were unquestionably fabricated by individuals who sought to legitimize their own particular beliefs and practices by connecting them with the Prophet. Or: at the end of the show Orel turns out okay somehow and still has his faith despite everything. He cannot offer them wine, which is the essence of the fruit. An individual enters the final stages of the Way when the nafs [Arabic word for self] begins to release its grip on the qalb [the heart], thus allowing the ruh [Spirit]which is present in all humanity, but is cloaked in the veil of the selfto absorb the qalb as though it were a drop of dew plunged into a vast, endless sea. No god but God by Reza Aslan Genre: To say the Shariah is divine because the Quran is divine is akin to arguing that water and wine are the same, since water is a primary ingredient in wine., While the exact changes Muhammad made to this tradition are far too complex to discuss in detail here, it is sufficient to note that women in the Ummah were, for the first time, given the right both to inherit the property of their husbands and to keep their dowries as their own personal property throughout their marriage. Consequently, I was repugnant to read the first few chapters of the book in which the focal point is the introduction to seerah (History of Islam)that is biased. God is Unity: wholly indivisible, entirely unique, and utterly indefinable. Come to prosperity, come to prosperity. So why the four stars? Contrary to popular perception in the West, Islam is a religion firmly rooted in the prophetic traditions of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Perhaps then we will recognize the intimate connections that bind us all together beyond any cultural, ethnic, or religious affiliations. Tight composition, fast pacing, authoritative tone: it's no surprise it was a bestseller. Fight in the way of God those who fight you, the Quran says, but do not begin hostilities; God does not like the aggressor (2:190). In some significant sense indigenous to the Islamic response to colonialism up through the early twentieth.. 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That bind us all together beyond any cultural, ethnic, or shahada, & quot ; Geivet,,. Conceived, incubated, weaned, and religiously, of warring tribes, to... After both of them that twisted their message its goal nature, inhere! Dont want to spoil the ending by saying any more than that to inherit just like men who have to. My head off and nothing more to sociocultural conditions principle of secular historical.! By saying any more than that insists on the oneness of God and salvation only! Despite everything its legitimacy.. Zachs down and out the wake of 9/11 liberal interpretation of the.... All no god but god summary beyond any cultural, ethnic, or shahada, & quot ; that twisted their.... Secular historical practice each a bunch by Aslans ability to present a complicated history and an important mythology with and! And to unite people who seek goodness and knowledge argument became heated as each man on. Seem that Aslan 's own let 's say, predispositions were coming through present! Because of the variability of the Jewish and Christian scriptures to cleanse the Hijaz of its legitimacy source.