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God
and Love
This is an exposition of the Islamic teachings on the
subject of divine love, forgiveness, salvation, etc. From this exposition
it will become clear that:
- for the most part the assumptions made by some people about Islamic
teachings, the most basic of which is that Islam knows only the
greatness of God but not fully His love, are incorrect, being based
either on ignorance or deliberate distortion of facts; and
- Islam contains the best of teachings of previous revelations on this
subject and states them in rational language.
-
Meaning of
Ijma' (Consensus)
IJMA' means consensus, that is,
acceptance of a matter by a specified group of people.
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The
Sacred Hadith Project, Part 1 (New)
This book examines, and attempts to give precise answers to, questions
such as the following: Is the Qur’an completely sufficient for the
purpose for which God sent the Prophet Muhammad or is the Hadith also
needed for that purpose? Is the Hadith revelatory or is it simply
words and actions of the Prophet as just an ordinary human being? If
it is revelatory, to what degree it is binding? To what degree of
authenticity is the Hadith preserved? Why
was the Hadith not preserved with as much certainty as the Qur’an,
if it is revelatory? Granted that there came to exist a large number
of unauthentic ahadith, can we advance further the earlier work
of separating these unauthentic ahadith from the authentic? Or,
do we have to either accept the results of earlier muhaddithun or
simply ignore the Hadith and concentrate on the Qur’an? What is the
relationship of the Hadith with the Qur’an? Is it a means to clarify
and interpret the Qur’an or is it an independent source of
guidance/law?
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Comments
on: William E. Phipps, Muhammad and Jesus: A Comparison of the
Prophets and Their Teachings (New)
There have been many scholars of Christian background
who have extensively studied Islamic sources and written on the
Prophet Muhammad. They have also made some brief statements comparing
Muhammad and Jesus but without showing in detail how they used
Christian sources to arrive at their view of Jesus underlying their
comparative statements. Often it appears that they proceed from
certain views of Jesus that they did not examine with the same type of
critical approach to the Christian sources to which they subject the
Islamic sources. The significance of this book lies in the fact that
Phipps dares to set his views about the Prophets Muhammad and Jesus
side by side, presents evidence for his views of both prophets, and
handles that evidence with a critical approach and with the declared
intention of being objective, honest, and fair.
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Islam
and Determinism
Islam's primary objective is not
to teach systematic philosophy but to help man establish a relationship with God
and to build societies based on God consciousness. Nevertheless, the teachings of
Islam proceed from a certain philosophy, i.e. a view of the universe and of man
and of the ultimate reality. It is important for Muslims to formulate this
philosophy. This paper is concerned with a specific part of such a formulation.
More particularly, the paper is concerned with the position of determinism in
Islamic philosophy.
Determinism in a strict sense
means that all events in the universe including human choices are inevitable in
the sense that in their place no other events could have taken place.
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Chastity and Hijab in the Teachings of Prophets Muhammad and Jesus
In our age many people consider chastity as a value of little
or no importance. In North America this became vividly clear when a majority of
Americans were not overly bothered by the fact that President Clinton engaged in
all kinds of sexual relations outside of his marriage. This erosion of the value
of chastity seems to be connected at least in part to a very negative attitude
in the West to the Muslim practice of hijab, which as understood in Islam, is a
means and a symbol of modesty and chastity. This is ironically also true of
those in the West who describe themselves as Christians, even though in the past
centuries Christians prided at their sexual ethics and criticized Muslims for
"promiscuity" because under certain conditions divorce as well as
polygamous marriages are allowed in Islam. The new modern attitude on the part
of Christians is no doubt due to their bowing to modern trends. However, for
those Muslims and Christians who want to be true to their religions the most
important thing should not be what the current trend is but what the Prophets
Muhammad and Jesus had to say. In this article I examine the teachings of these
two religious figures on the subject of chastity and hijab and in the process
attempt to correct some Western and Christian misconceptions about hijab.
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Ayesha - The Mother of the Faithful
'Ayesha was not only the wife of the greatest
man in human history, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him and his family), and the daughter of one the greatest Muslims of all times,
the First Caliph Abu Bakr, but also a towering Islamic personality in her own
right.
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Hajj, The Pilgrimage to Makkah
Muslims from all over the world come to Makkah (or Mecca, as
it is less accurately spelled in English) for the annual pilgrimage known
as hajj.
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The Night of Power
(Laylah al-Qadr)
In a short, often recited Surah of the Holy Qur'an there is a
mention of a remarkable night called laylah al-qadr:
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Commanding Good and Forbidding Evil
Commanding the proper and forbidding the improper
(amr bi
alma 'ruf wa nahi 'an alnunkar) is one of the most important Islamic
principles, stressed again and again in the Qur'an and Hadith.
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The Islamic Way of Islamization
The general understanding of the way our societies are to be
Islamized is that there should arise a strongman with a big stick who should
force people into obeying injunctions of Shari'ah. The injunctions that usually
come to people's mind are those that prohibit drinking or prescribe certain
punishments for theft, adultery, etc. It is because of this understanding that
we sometimes welcome dictators, especially when those dictators know how to use
Islam.
But such an understanding of
Islamization has nothing to do
with the authentic Islam.
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The Way of Islamic Tasawwfuf
(Sufi Islam)
What is Islamic tasawwuf (Sufi Islam) and why does it look so mysterious?
Genuine Islamic tasawwuf is the very heart and soul of Islam itself.
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The Work of Propagation of Islam
Broadly speaking, all Islamic work falls under one or the
other of the following two categories:
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Organizing ourselves, building social, political and
economic systems & institutions and, through them, taking care of various
affairs of Muslim communities or societies. The Holy Qur'an uses the
comprehensive term of al-amr to describe this aspect of Islamic work. There are
five pillars through which Islam expects us to take care of al-amr.
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The second aspect of Islamic work, which is the
subject of the present article, may broadly be described as promulgation of
Islamic teachings.
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Recent Defeat of
Communism and Its Meaning for Muslims
As everybody knows, for the most part the present world is
run by three systems:
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capitalist /socialist democratic
secularism,
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totalitarianism, atheistic communism, and
-
dictatorship.
-
Islamic Rules Concerning
Financial Dealings
There are many examples of financial dealings among Muslims
leading to disagreements, strain in relationships and even fights, instead of
leading, as they normally should, to strengthening the bond of Muslim
brotherhood and to mutual benefit.
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Permissibility of
Elections in Islam
In this article
we present clear evidence that elections are not un-Islamic and so are
permissible in Islam.
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Military
Dictatorship Has No Place in Islam
In Islam even the rule of God's religion cannot be imposed by
force. In a well-known verse of Surah al-Baqarah it is said:
"Let there be no compulsion in religion
(la ikraha fi ad-din)." (2:256)
As a result of this principle, if there are non-Muslims in an
Islamic society they cannot be forced to become Muslims or follow Islamic law.
Only people who freely accept Islam are bound by its blessed and noble
teachings. Now, therefore, if God's rule cannot be forcefully imposed on people
by anyone, how can a Muslim dictator have the right to impose his rule by
military might?
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Tafseer of Surah an-Nisa, aya't
34
Of all the Qur'anic passages about men and women perhaps the one most often
misunderstood or misused by both Muslims and non-Muslims is verse 34 of Surah
an-Nisa.
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When
The Wife is Unhappy With The Husband
Qur'an 4:34 (Surah Nisa, aya't 4) gives some guidance as to how to deal with
marriage difficulties when husbands feel that their wives are being deliberately
nasty to them. The Holy Qur'an also gives guidance for cases when it is the wife
who thinks that she is being mistreated and feels unhappy about it.
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Muslim
Women and Community Life
Women's participation in the work of Islam and Muslims has so
far been very limited....One reason that our sisters do not spend part of their spare
time for the work of Islam and Muslims, apart from their own love of the life of
this world, is the idea, held in various religious circles with varying degrees
of intensity, that women should concern themselves exclusively with the work at
home and that the community work is the responsibility of men only.
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Ecology and the Teachings of the Prophets
Muhammad and Jesus
One
characteristic of our technological age is that humans can now do things at a
massive scale never before possible or even imaginable. This capability makes
possible the achievement of some highly beneficial tasks but, if proper care is
not taken, it can also inflict massive damage on living creatures including
humans themselves, a damage from which it may be extremely difficult, if not
impossible to recover.
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Violence, Christianity and Islam
Christians have often presented their religion as a religion
of love and peace while presented Islam as a religion of war and sword.
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Preservation
of the Inspired Words and Deeds of The Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ
(Revised and Expanded)
Muslims believe that the revelation brought
by the Prophet Muhammad consisted of the verbal teachings as well as actions (Sunnah,
or practice). The Qur’an and Hadith, the sources of this revelation contain
both the teachings delivered through the Prophet Muhammad and the reports of
the events in his life and his companions or refer to such events. Muslims
further believe that the Qur'an was memorized during the life of the Prophet
and recited in prayers with exactly the same text in which it has come down to
us. The reliability of Hadith, however is not asserted with the same degree of
certainty.
Christians also believe that Jesus' words
and works formed part of the Christian revelation. The sources of these
revelatory words and works are primarily the Gospels. Sometimes the Gospels
are compared with the Qur'an. Christians also often compare Jesus himself with
the Qur'an. But actually neither comparison is adequate. The
Gospels should be compared with the Hadith and Jesus should be compared with
Muhammad. The Qur'an should be compared, if at all, with the revelatory
sayings and deeds of Jesus had they been written down under the supervision of
Jesus and/or his disciples and then passed on to us.
In this article I briefly discuss the
historical question of the extent to which the revelations brought by Muhammad
and Jesus have been preserved.
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Muhammad: The Last of
the Prophets
Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad was
the last prophet and messenger of God. By way of clarification it should be
stated immediately that in Islam the role of a prophet or
a messenger is far more important than in Christianity.
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Id Al AdHa
'Id al-adha falls on the 10th day of the 12th month (dhu'l
hijjah) of the Islamic calendar. This is the day when the pilgrims
gather in Makkah by the millions come, after having completed many of the
essential rites of hajj, out of ihram and out of the restrictions
that go with ihram (e.g. the restriction against putting on perfume,
cutting nails or cutting beard or other hair).
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How Jesus Christ
Described the Glory of Prophet Muhammad
We present here some traditions attributed to prophet Jesus
(may peace be upon him), in which that great prophet talks about the Chief of
all Prophets, Hazarat Muhammad (may God bless him ever more).
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Western Media's Bias:
We're Not Helpless Against It
It hardly needs to be said that Western media is biased
against Islam and Muslims: every Muslim who reads the daily newspaper(s) in
his city, watches television or listens to the radio is well aware of this. What
is generally not realized and therefore needs to be said is that we are not
totally helpless against the media's bias.
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Sober Thoughts
on a Mad Writer
It is perfectly natural that Muslims should feel outrage at
Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, a deranged novel which insults prophets and suhaba
(prophets' companions), very often taking their original names. It is also perfectly natural
that we express these feelings of outrage in various legitimate ways. But
believers never let emotions so overpower themselves as to loose sight of
fundamental realities. They see things with the light of God.
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Love for The Prophet
Love for the Prophet Muhammad is a measure of one's
iman (faith and inner conviction) and our iman is completed and perfected only when our love for the
Prophet exceeds our love for everything else in this world, including our own
lives.
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Bringing up Our
Children in The West
In bringing up our children, whether in the West or anywhere
else, our goal should evidently be to help them get the best in this world and
the best in the hereafter - success and happiness in this life and salvation and
paradise in the hereafter.
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Secularism and How
to Deal with it
Secularism is an ideology which either denies that there is a
God, prophethood and revelation or declares that the role of these is limited to
the personal and inner life of man and that in the political or social sphere of
human life, God, prophethood or revelation cannot by their very nature play any
fundamental role. Even a cursory glance through the Qur`an and Hadith is enough
to show everyone that this ideology conflicts with the very mind and heart of
Islam.
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Repent for Allah is Merciful
This article is for you even if you do not consider yourself
a "good" Muslim, even if you commit some of the major sins such as
adultery. Indeed, this article is for you even if after coming to North America
you have become a Hindu, Christian, communist or an atheist or you are married
to one of these and you are letting your spouse raise your children as kafirs
(non-believers).
Whatever kind of person you have become after coming here,
receive from God and His Messenger the good news: God is most merciful and most
forgiving and as more than willing to receive you back in His mercy.
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God or Allah
The question has often been raised whether in English we
should use the word God or Allah to designate the Creator and master of the
Universe. The answer to the question has, in fact, been given by the Holy Qur'an
itself.
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How Islam Wants us to
Organize Ourselves
The way of Islam wants us to organize ourselves and take care
of our religious, social and other affairs is clearly outlined in the Holy
Qur'an.
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Qualities of
Those Who Should Maintain Our Mosques - The Qur'anic View
Most mosques hold, at one time or another, elections for new
majlis ash-shura (Board of Directors). The question often arises of what sort of persons should be
nominated and then elected for this majlis.
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Praying With
and Behind Muslims of Other Sects
Some years ago in Pakistan a "Wahhabi" was
a little late for his maghreb (prayer offered just after sun sets)
prayer. So he swiftly went to the nearest mosque
he could find and joined the congregational prayer that was already in progress.
It was thus far a beautiful scene: a man is busily engaged in the affairs of his
daily life when time comes for prayer: he leaves aside whatever he was doing and
hastens to join his fellow-Muslims in the remembrance of his Lord and Creator.
But what took place afterwards was an incident of such ugliness that it should
repulse any human being in whom something of the beautiful nature with which God
originally created man has survived.
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Eid - How Can We All Have it
One The Same Day
Eid days are meant to be occasions when the Muslims of an
entire town join together in prayer and in thanking Allah for His blessings, in
rejoicing at the great religious traditions of Islam and in forgiving one
another for any personal excesses we may have committed towards one another.
But, alas, over the past many years these occasions have been marred by
differences among our organizations over when should Eids be celebrated.
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Some Public
Criticism in Public Matters is Essential
It is a commonly held notion among us Muslims that no matter
what the nature of a problem the best way of dealing with it is to have a
private talk with the person or persons concerned. One is always supposed to
take these concerned persons to a corner and whisper in their ears. Public
discussion, criticism or questioning is considered as something always
undesirable and unbefitting of a good pious Muslim, even in matters of public
concern.
Yet, sometimes it is only through public criticism that the
Muslims can perform their collective duty of enjoining what is right and
forbidding what is wrong which is assigned to them by God Most High in Surah Al
Imran.
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Applying
the Qur'anic Principle of Shura (Consultation) in Non-Muslim
Countries
Are Muslim communities which
exist only as small minorities required to run their affairs by Shura and if so
how?
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A More Detailed Look at
the Qur'anic Principle of Consultation
In a previous article, it was shown that military
dictatorship, though it is unfortunately acceptable to many Muslims, has
absolutely no legitimacy in Islam; for, it violates basic Islamic principles,
notably the principle of shura or consultation. Now in the present article we
look at this lofty Qur'anic principle in greater detail, discussing some of the
questions that arise in its practical application.
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Voting
can be Ibadha
In Islam the concept of
ibadah is far more comprehensive than
the concept of "worship" which is often used to translate the word
into English. Ibadah, as understood in Islam, includes every action that is
performed with the intention (or niyyah) of fulfilling the wishes of the
Creator, whether directly or indirectly.
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The
Concept of God in Islam: An Introduction
The starting point for the understanding of the Islamic
concept of God are the phenomena or events that take place in nature and the
world of man.
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The
Meaning of "Pride in Poverty"
It has been stated that "pride in poverty, a life of
prayer and dhikr (remembrance of God) and constant struggle against falsehood, evil and injustice
(jihad) is
the way of Muhammad". Let's clarify the first part of the statement.
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The
Living Character of Islamic Tradition
A great deal of controversy, confusion and disunity among
Muslims is caused by a careless use of the argument that such and such a thing
did not exist in the days of the Prophet and the rightly guided caliphs or was
not allowed by them and therefore it is un-Islamic.
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Some
Qur'anic Prayers
In life we often encounter situations when we direly need
help of one sort or another. Many of us may right now be in such situations. For
example, there may be some who have just arrived in the country and badly need a
place under the sun - a job, an accommodation, a family and some friends. There
may be others who are settled here for some time, but may have now become
victims of the present economic circumstances and desperately need new
opportunities. Some may have no economic difficulties but under social pressures
from this society may be facing hard times.
Then there are situations that have nothing to do with social
and economic circumstances. They arise suddenly and make us badly need help. For
example, we are driving and our car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Or, we
are traveling by air and at one of the airports on the way we loose our
luggage, passport and money.
More than ever, in such situations a Muslim turns to God and
asks Him to send some help.
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Helping
the Growth of Muslim Businesses
The economic development of the immigrant communities in the
West has generally followed the following course: first, the immigrants take up
jobs as skilled or unskilled workers or as professionals; then some of them open
community-oriented businesses (e.g. specialty food stores); finally they enter
into a variety of other small businesses leading into big business. The economic
development of the Muslim immigrant community in the West is also following the
same course......
It hardly needs to be said that the growth of all kinds of
Muslim businesses is good for the future of Islam and Muslims. The Islamic
principle of brotherhood requires that we do whatever we can to help in this
growth.
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The
Sad Story of Turkish Secularism
Secularism won its first and greatest victory in the Muslim
world on Oct. 29, 1923, when in Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk came to power and
systematically proceeded with his program of secularizing that remarkable
Islamic country.
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Some
Views on Dictators
In al-Musannaf by 'Abd al-Razzaq bin Humam, three
traditions are recorded that reveal Hadhrat 'Umar's view of how amir
(leader) should be
chosen and what to do with a person who imposes his rule over Muslims by force
or political intrigue. In one tradition, it is related that when the question of
choosing an amir after the death of the Prophet of Islam arose, Hadhrat
'Umar
said: "The command in this respect is shura." In another tradition, he
says: "You are free to kill anyone who calls for the leadership of himself
or of others without consulting the Muslims." And in a third tradition he
says: "You must kill anyone who claims command over you without consulting
the Muslims."
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Marriage
in Islam: Considered From a Legal Point of View
From a legal point of view Islam views marriage as an 'aqd
or contract. Like any other contract the marriage contract requires full and
free consent of the parties concerned. The parents or guardian of any of the
parties may give advice, choose a marriage partner or use persuasion, but the
final decision to enter into a marriage must be the result of a free choice on
the part of each partner, even though this freely made choice may consist of
nothing but accepting the choice of one's parents or guardian. This right of
free choice is fairly well recognized in the case of men but (unfortunately) not in the case of
women.
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Jerusalem
According to ancient tradition, Jerusalem was at first a
small village known as Salem and inhabited by Canaanites, the ancestors of the
Palestinians. A great and righteous Canaanite king turned his village into a
city and called it Jerusalem. He also built a temple there.
Jerusalem has a very important place in Islam...
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Building
Muslim Power (New)
In this world where God has for a
determined time allowed oppression and evil to exist along side with justice and
righteousness it is often necessary for individuals and nations to defend
themselves. This self-defense necessarily requires some type of power (or quwwah).
If everyone in this world were a just and righteous person human beings would
live together in perfect peace and harmony and there would be no need for anyone
to build and use power. But that is not the way God willed this world to be.
Consequently, in this world the building and sometimes the use of power is
unavoidable.
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Power
and Opposition to it: Islamic Perspective (New)
Islam gives full
recognition to two basic realities of human existence: 1) Exercise of some
authority or power by some individuals over others is necessary to create and
maintain order and progress in the society (4:59, 43:32).
2) It is easy for power to get corrupted and become a source of injustice,
oppression, and stagnation (6:123, 20:24, 27:34, 33:67, 34:34, 43:23-24 etc). In
what follows I briefly outline in broad terms the way Islam deals with these two
realities, concentrating mostly on the theory derived from Islam’s primary
source – the Qur’an.
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Le pouvoir et son opposition : dans une perspective islamique
(New)
L'islam reconnaît pleinement les deux réalités
qui sont à la base de l'existence humaine :
1.
l'exercice d'une certaine autorité ou pouvoir par des individus sur
d'autres est nécessaire afin de créer et de maintenir l'ordre et le progrès
au sein d'une société (4:59, 43:32);
2.
il est facile pour un pouvoir de verser dans la corruption et de devenir
une source d'injustice, d'oppression et de stagnation (6:123, 20:24, 27:34,
33:67, 34:34, 43:23-24, etc.).
Dans les pages qui suivent, j'esquisse,
dans ses grandes lignes, la manière avec laquelle l'islam compose avec ces deux
réalités, en me basant principalement sur la théorie tirée de la source
première de l'islam le Coran.
En général, l'islam vise à contrôler
cette vulnérabilité du pouvoir face à la corruption en deux temps. Premièrement,
il a réformé le concept même du pouvoir en soustrayant l'autorité humaine à
toute forme d'absolu, en la rendant responsable et en définissant ses fonctions.
Deuxièmement, il autorise le peuple à s'opposer au pouvoir corrompu.
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The
Mysterious Disappearance of Jesus and the Origin of Christianity
(Serialized Book) - [Chapters 1-7 online now]
This book arose out of the conviction -- which I share with
many writers -- that at present we do not have a satisfactory explanation of how
the Jesus tradition originated and how it developed during its earliest stages
and that it is possible to find such an explanation. After spending about twenty
years examining the New Testament and other writings about Jesus and the early
Christian church without any satisfactory results, one day in the summer of
1991 I had a thought which struck me as very promising. I had a strong feeling
that I might have finally found a provable hypothesis which provided the key to
solving the mystery of the origins of Christianity and hence to a much fuller
understanding of the whole Jesus tradition. I started to test the hypothesis
(which is stated below in the Introduction) and found that the more I examined
the evidence in its light the more the pieces of the puzzle of Christian origins
began to fall into place. Sometimes I had doubts but not because of any
evidential or logical reasons. My doubts arose entirely from the radical
originality of the hypothesis: the hypothesis was so different from what all
other writers -- many with amazing learning and impressive intellectual
abilities -- have been saying that it may be absurd. But each time I tried to
see whether any alternative hypotheses offered by others or any that I could
myself think of could explain the puzzle of the origin of Christianity better,
my doubts were overridden by the initial realization of the potential of the new
hypothesis and I would continue to develop and substantiate it. This process of
testing and developing continued for the next five years, culminating in this
book.
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Gospel
According to Islam
A Gospel is the life story of Jesus
told in a way so as to bring out its significance for faith and
history. It is necessarily revelatory and prophetic since it assesses
the significance of Jesus not only for past history but also for the
future. A Gospel is, therefore, different from a historian's
"life of Jesus."
-
The
book before you is a Gospel. It is written in the light of the
revelation of God made to the prophet Muhammad.
-
In the Qur'an, the
collection of revelatory messages received by Muhammad (peace be upon
him and his true followers and family), there are ninety-three verses
that refer to Jesus. Directly or indirectly, these verses have
something to say about almost every aspect of the story of Jesus-his
family, birth, and childhood, the nature of his person and his various
traditional titles, his miracles and message, the Jews' rejection of
him and his death and exaltation, and the significance of his work for
the Jewish history and for the history of the world at large. In this
way, the Qur'an provides a fairly complete outline of the life and
work of Jesus.
