New Introduction to Islam

Daniel Brown is the Director of the Institute for the Study of Religion in the Middle East (ISRME) and the author of Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought (1999). His interests include modern Muslim intellectual history, Hadith studies, and Muslim-Christian relations. He is the editor of the forthcoming Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Hadith.

• List of Illustrations xiPreface to the Third Edition xvSource Acknowledgments xviiPart I The Formation of the Islamic Tradition 11 Islam in Global Perspective 3The Problem of Defining Islam 3Mapping the Islamic World 5Arabs and Non-Arabs 9Sunnis and Shiʿites 10Islamic Ritual 11What to Expect from This Book 14Essential Resources for the Study of Islam 16Questions for Study and Discussion 172 Arabia 19Geography 19Pre-Islamic Poetry 21Arab Religion 25Women in Pre-Islamic Arabia 27Mecca and the Quraysh 28The Gifts of the Arabs 31Resources for Further Study 34Questions for Study and Discussion 353 The Pre-Islamic Near East 37Christianity in the Near East 39Saints and Relics 45Zoroastrianism 46Judaism 47Manichaeism 49Mazdak 49The Place of the Arabs in the Near East 50Chronology of the Near East of Late Antiquity 52Resources for Further Study 53Questions for Study and Discussion 544 The Life of Muhammad 55Prologue and Setting 56Birth and Childhood 57Early Adulthood 59The Beginning of Revelation 61Opposition 63The Night Journey and Ascent to Heaven 65The Hijra 66The Battle of Badr 68Confrontation with the Jews of Medina 69The Battle of Uh. ud 70The Peace of al-H. udaybiya and the Farewell Pilgrimage 72Evaluation 73Resources for Further Study 74Questions for Study and Discussion 755 The Qur ʾan 77The Qurʾan in Modern Imagination 77The History of the Text 79The Language of the Qurʾan 84The Context of the Qurʾan 87Jesus in the Qurʾan 88The Qurʾan in Muslim Piety 90The Eternity of the Qurʾan 91The Inimitability of the Qurʾan 93Interpreting the Qurʾan 94Central Themes 95Qurʾanic Narratives 96Qurʾanic Law and the Problem of Abrogation 97Women and Gender in the Qurʾan 98Qurʾan, Sīra, and Hadith 99Resources for Further Study 99Questions for Study and Discussion 1006 The Tradition Literature 103The Science of Hadith 104The Origins of the Hadith 108In Quest of the Historical Muhammad 111The Sīra and the Shaping of an Islamic Worldview 115Resources for Further Study 119Questions for Study and Discussion 120Part II The Expansion of Islam 1217 The Conquests 123Psychological Impact 127Archeological Data: The “Invisible” Conquests 129Resources for Further Study 131Questions for Study and Discussion 1328 Religion of Empire 133Early Arab Administration 134Conversion to Islam 137Leadership 138The First Civil War 139The Martyrdom of Ḥusayn 140The Deputy of God 141Personal Piety 142The Dome of the Rock 144The Constitution of Medina 149Resources for Further Study 151Questions for Study and Discussion 1519 The Caliphate 153Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ 153The Shiʿite Vision 156The ʿAbbasids 158Twelvers 159Ismāʿīlīs 160Nizārī “Assassins” 161Kharijites 163The Sasanian Revival 164Al-Māwardī and the Sunni Compromise 166Resources for Further Study 169Questions for Study and Discussion 170Part III Islamic Institutions 17110 Islamic Law 173The Coffee Debate 173Revelation and Reason 175Qiyās 176The Schools of Law 177Islamic Law and the State 179Ijmāʿ 180The Uṣūl al-Fiqh 181The Substance of the Law 183Ritual Purity 184Acts of Worship 185Marriage and Divorce 186The Origins of Islamic Law 189Al-Shāfiʿī and Islamic Legal Theory 189Resources for Further Study 192Questions for Study and Discussion 19311 Islamic Theology and Philosophy 195Freedom and Determinism 196God’s Attributes 198Anthropomorphism 200Faith and Works 200Leadership 203The Sunni Consensus 203Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal 204Al-Ashʿarī 205Kalām 206Al-Māturīdī and other Alternatives to Ashʿarite Kalām 208Jewish and Christian Influences 209The Challenge of Philosophy 210Prophecy and Revelation in Islamic Philosophy 212Philosophy and Mysticism 215Resources for Further Study 216Questions for Study and Discussion 21712 Sufism 219The Parliament of Birds 219Stages on the Path 221The Spiritual Master 223Sufi Brotherhoods 224Sufi Ritual 226The Destination 229Sufi Cosmology 230Sufism in History: The Case of al-Ḥallāj 233Beginnings to the Tenth Century 237Classical Manuals and the Growth of Ṭarīqas 239Resources for Further Study 241Questions for Study and Discussion 242Part IV Crisis and Renewal in Islamic History 24313 Turks, Crusaders, and Mongols 245The Saljūqs 245Al-Ghazālī and the Sunni Revival 246Slave Soldiers 248The Crusades 250The Mongols 254The Impact of the Mongol Invasions 257Resources for Further Study 261Questions for Study and Discussion 26214 Revival and Reform 263The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires 263The Rise of European Power 266The Religious Environment 267The ʿUlamāʾ 267Sufi Reformers 269The Wahhabi Movement 274Resources for Further Study 277Questions for Study and Discussion 27815 Islam and the West 279Napoleon’s Invasion of Egypt 279The Birth of Orientalism 282Jihad Movements 284Al-Afghānī 285Sayyid Ahmad Khan and Aligarh 287Resources for Further Study 289Questions for Study and Discussion 28916 The Turbulent Twentieth Century 291The Abolition of the Caliphate 291Nationalism 293Secularism 295Rashīd Riḍā and al-Manār 298The Muslim Brotherhood 299Jihad and Martyrdom 300From Shariʿa to Secular Law and Back 302Modern Qurʾan Interpretation 304The Problem of Sunna 305Ijtihād and Ijmāʿ 306A New Kalām? 307Muhammad ʿAbdūh 307Muhammad Iqbal 309Sufism and Modernity 311The Modernist Moment 314Resources for Further Study 315Questions for Study and Discussion 31517 Salafism 317Café Salafis 317Salafi Doctrine 319The Ibn Taymiyya Connection 320The Albanian Watchmaker’s Son 322Salafi Apocalypse 324Salafi Spring? 329The Appeal of Salafism 331Salafis and Sufis 332Resources for Further Study 334Questions for Study and Discussion 33418 Islam in the Twenty-First Century 335The Challenge of Pluralism 336Islamic Liberalism 340Islam in the West 342Islamic Feminism 346The Challenge of Islam 350Questions for Study and Discussion 351Glossary 353Bibliography 367Index 391