No god but God (Updated Edition): The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam

could easily absorb a cornucopia of disparate religious ideologies. The pagan Arabs would likely have perceived Judaism as just another way of expressing what they considered to be similar religious sentiments. The same could be said with regard to Arab perceptions of Christianity, which, like Judaism, had an influential presence in the Arabian Pen

As with all Muslim rituals, salat can begin only after the intention to pray is voiced, and only while the Muslim faces toward Mecca,…

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All religions are inextricably bound to the social, spiritual, and cultural milieux from which they arose and in which they developed. It is not prophets who create religions. Prophets are, above all, reformers who redefine and reinterpret the existing beliefs and practices of their communities, providing fresh sets of symbols and metaphors with wh

He was not just the King of Mecca, he was “the Keeper of the Keys.” “His authority among his tribe of Quraysh, in his life and after his death, was like a religion which people followed,” recounts Ibn Ishaq. Qusayy’s most important innovation was the establishment of what would become the foundation of Mecca’s economy. He began by strengthening his

The Sufi knows no dualities, only unity. There is no good and evil, no light and dark; there is only God. This notion should not be confused with the Hindu principle of maya (the illusion of reality), or the Buddhist doctrine of sunyata (the emptiness of all things). For the Sufi, reality is neither emptiness nor illusion; reality is God. “Whicheve

In Qutb’s view, the Islamic state would not require a ruler, at least not a centralized executive power like a president or king. The only ruler would be God; the only law, the Shariah. Qutb’s radicalized vision of political Islam completely transformed the…

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the Quran is considered to be direct revelation (tanzil), the actual words of God handed down through Muhammad, who was little more than a passive conduit.

The British conviction that the ancient foe of Christendom was in desperate need of civilization created a sense of inferiority and fear among India’s Muslims, many of whom believed that their faith and culture were under attack. So while the annexation of native states, the dispossession of landowners, the disregard for the plight of the Indian pe

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