Islam: Beliefs and Institutions - Muhammadanism.org

ISLAM

BELIEFS AND INSTITUTIONS


|April 13, 2004 |
|www.muhammadanism.org |
|Greek text requires |
|Code2000 font |


BY THE SAME AUTHOR

LE BERCEAU DE L'ISLAM. VOL. I. LE CLIMAT. LES BEDOUINS. Rome,
1914.
FATIMA ET LES FILLES DE MAHOMET: NOTES CRITIQUES POUR L'ETUDE DE
LA SIRA. Rome, 1912.
L'ISLAM: CROYANCES ET INSTITUTIONS. Beyrouth, 1926.
LA SYRIE: PRECIS HISTORIQUE. Beyrouth, 1921.


ALSO ARTICLES IN


BULLETIN DE L'INSTITUT EGYPTIEN.
JOURNAL ASIATIQUE.
RECHERCHES DE SCIENCE RELIGIEUSE.
RIVISTA DEGLI STUDI ORIENTALI.


The following articles from the 'MELANGES DE I. A FACULTE
ORIENTALE DE BEYROUTH' are also published separately:-


ETUDES SUR LE RÈGNE DU CALIFE OMAYADE MO'AWIA IER. 1906-08.
LE CALIFAT DE YAZID IER. 1909-21.
LA CITE ARABE DE TAIF A LA VEILLE DE L'HEGIRE. 1922.
LA MECQUE A LA VEILLE DE L'HEGIRE. 1924.
LA Badia ET LA Hira SOUS LES OMAIYADES: UN MOT A PROPOS Msatta.
1910.
LE TRIUMVIRAT ABOU BAKR, OMAR ET ABOU 'OBAIDA. 1910.
PETITE HISTOIRE DE SYRIE ET DU LIBAN. 1924.
LES SANCTUAIRES PREISLAMITES DANS L'ARABIE OCCIDENTALE. 1926.



ISLAM
BELIEFS AND INSTITUTIONS

BY

H. LAMMENS, S.J.

PROFESSOR OF ARABIC AT ST. JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY, BEYROUT

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY
SIR E. DENISON ROSS
DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL STUDIES, LONDON

METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON



First Published in 1929

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN



CONTENTS



PAGE
| | |FOREWORD |ix |
|I | |THE CRADLE OF ISLAM: PRE-ISLAMITE ARABIA |I |
| |1.|THE HEJAZ |I |
| | |The Climate-The Nefud-The Oases. | |
| |2.|POPULATION |5 |
| | |The Beduins-Their Portrait-Arabic Language and | |
| | |Poetry-Beduin | |
| | |Character-Hospitality-Courage-Tenacity-Anarchy-The| |
| | |Tribal Chief-Mekka-Government at Mekka-Commercial | |
| | |Life-Caravans-Site of Mekka. | |
| |3.|RELIGION |17 |
| | |The Ka'ba-No Idols-The Jews-The Christians. | |
|II | |MUHAMMAD: THE FOUNDER OF ISLAM |24 |
| |I.|MEKKAN PERIOD |24 |
| | |Muhammad's Youth-Marriage, Vocation-First | |
| | |Preaching-Failure, The Hijra. | |
| |2.|MEDINESE PERIOD. |28 |
| | |Muhammad at Medina-The Battles, Badr-Ohod-War of | |
| | |the 'Trench'-Diplomacy-Expulsion of the | |
| | |Jews-Defeat at Muta-Conquest of Mekka-Last | |
| | |Successes-Death of Muhammad-His Succession. | |




v
vi ISLAM BELIEFS AND INSTITUTIONS


PAGE
|III |THE QORAN: THE SACRED BOOK OF ISLAM |37 |
| |The Qoran-Its Authenticity-Present | |
| |Form-Exegesis-Chief Commentaries-Mekkan | |
| |Suras-Medinese Suras-Dogma in the Suras-Legends of | |
| |the Prophets-Christology-Eschatology-Influence of | |
| |the Qoran. | |
| |THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM |56 |
| |The 'Shahada'-The Theodicy of Islam-Prayer-The | |
| |Zakat-Fasting-The Pilgrimage to Mekka-The Jehad-The | |
| |Personal Statute-Other Prescriptions. | |
|IV |THE 'SUNNA', OR TRADITION OF ISLAM |65 |
| |The Sunna-Its Importance-Complement of the Qoran-The| |
| |Sunna of the 'Companions '-The | |
| |Hadith-Criticism-Chief Collections of Hadith -The | |
| |'Six Books'. | |
|V |JURISPRUDENCE AND ISLAMIC LAW |82 |
| |Origin-The 'Roots' of Fiqh-Early Schools-Orthodox | |
| |Schools -Their Methods-Differences-Casuistry-Modern | |
| |Practice -Ijma'-The Living Authority-Ijtihad-No | |
| |Councils-The 'Ulema-The Qadi-No Clergy-The | |
| |Caliphate. | |
|VI |ASCETICISM AND MYSTICISM OF ISLAM |111 |
| |The Qoran and Asceticism-Sufism-Christian | |
| |Influence-Influence of Ghazali-Other | |
| |Influences-Deviations and Esoterism-The Inquisition | |
| |and the Sufis-Sufi Fraternities-The | |
| |'Dhikr'-Music-Internal Organization of the | |
| |Fraternities-The Chief Fraternities- Their Present | |
| |Position. | |
|VII |THE SECTS OF ISLAM |140 |
| |Their Number-The Kharijites-The Shi'as-'Kitman' or | |
| |'Taqiyya'-The Invisible Imam-The Imamites or | |
| |'Twelvers' -The Mahdi-Divergences between Sunnis and| |
| |Shi'as-Shi'a Exegesis-The Metoualis-The Zaidites-The| |
| |Isma'ilis -The Druses-The Nosairis-The 'Ali-ilahis.'| |




.



CONTENTS vii

PAGE
|VIII|REFORMISTS AND MODERNISTS |179 |
| |Reaction and Reform-Ibn Taimiyya-The Wahhabis-Ibn | |
| |Sa'ud-The Ahmadiyya-Babism-Behai'sm-'Abbas-Effendi-The | |
| |Present-day Problem of the | |
| |Caliphate-Nationalism-Pan-Islamic Congress -Modernism-In | |
| |India-In Egypt-In Turkey-Some Statistical Data-Future | |
| |Prospects. | |
| |BIBLIOGRAPHY |227 |
| |THE QORAN, PRINCIPAL VERSES EXPOUNDED OR QUOTED |241 |
| |INDEX |243 |
BLANK PAGE
FOREWORD

A BOOK written in good faith! This work seeks to be no more, no less.
Neither controversial, nor polemical; sine ira nec studio. An entirely
objective account, as its sub-title announces, of the beliefs and
institutions of Islam. Otherwise, a manual-that is to say, a popular work.
But I venture to hope that Islamists and Orientalists will recognize that
it is a popular work which has drawn its information from the fountain-
heads of the Qoran, of Islamic tradition, of the Sira, etc. To these
sources let me add a prolonged contact with Muslim circles. In the matter
of references I have been content to limit myself to the Qoran.
It is first and foremost contemporary Islam which is here considered,
Islam as formed by the evolution of thirteen centuries. But the details
supplied enable the reader to follow its historical development. I take for
granted a knowledge of the outline of its political history from the death
of the Prophet onwards. I have omitted vanished sects, also the description
of the quarrels of Muslim scholasticism, those which gave birth to the
schools of the Mu'tazilites, the Ash-'arites, the Murjites, etc.,
contenting myself with such brief allusion to them as the account of the
beliefs requires. As regards private institutions, marriage, slavery, etc.,
the author has confined himself to essential elements, sacrificing
picturesque detail.
Beyrout, 1926
ix



BLANK PAGE
ISLAM
BELIEFS AND INSTITUTIONS

I

THE CRADLE OF ISLAM: PRE-ISLAMITE
ARABIA

ARABIA presents the picture of a rectangle terminating in the south of
Nearer Asia. This gigantic screen of inhospitable territory intervenes
between the fabled lands of India and the classical East, the cradle of our
civilization. Western Arabia alone in its mountainous complexity will claim
our attention in this survey. There, to the east of the Red Sea, about half-
way between Syria and the Indian Ocean in the province called Hejaz, Islam
was born. From this region, bounded on the north by Syria, the east by
Nejd, the south by Yemen and the west by the Eritrean Sea, sprang the
impulse which resulted in the Muslim conquests and expansion. It is, then,
to the Hejaz that we shall devote our first pages: to the Hejaz, the cradle
of Islam.


I. THE HEJAZ


CL