This site is intended to be interactive! If you have a question about Islam, or have come across an article or a blog post that you think would be of interest to me or to other readers, please feel free to leave a comment and let us know!
At the moment, I have no set timeline for answering questions, but I aim to answer them as quickly as possible. If they require extra research, then they’ll take me a little longer (and occasionally I actually have to pay attention to my thesis, which can create further delays).
If you’re having any problems commenting, or want to get in touch with me for any other reason, you can email me – askanislamicist at gmail dot com (but written like a normal email address, of course).
Please note that I enforce Wheaton’s Law on this page, as well as on all of the comments. Please – don’t be a dick.
askanislamicist 
This is a fantastic idea for a blog!!! I wish you’d’ve come along way sooner. Right off the top of my head, here a couple of questions I have.
Is there any archeological or other support for the claim that pre-Islamic Arabs buried children alive? AFAIK, there are a couple of passing mentions of this in the Quran and Hadith, I’ve never heard anything from non-Muslim sources.
Supposedly, whatever Muhammed (sp?) said as a direct quote of Allah/Jibreel was recorded in the Quran, while whatever he said in his own words went into the Hadith. But it seems to me there is overlap in both directions, which I assume is due to political machinations back in the day. Can you clarify this issue?
Given a little time I’ll probly think of better questions.
Thanks! I’m glad people are enjoying it!
And thanks for the questions – I’ll answer them shortly! If you have any more, please let me know!
Heya, took me a little while, but I’ve answered both now:
1.) https://askanislamicist.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/did-pre-islamic-arabians-bury-infants-alive/
2.) https://askanislamicist.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/the-quran-and-the-hadith/
u did a great job of it too. :-))
What’s your take on whether or not Muhammad could read? I’ve never been able to make up my mind about that.
“OBL was buried at sea according to Islamic custom”
—Say whut?
Pingback: Do all Muslims deserve Muslim burial? | askanislamicist
Considering that Draw Mohammed Day is coming up (5/20), it might be a good idea to lay out just who it is that is against pictorial representations of the Prophet. (contra the public perceptions that it is”Islam”)
i am in love with this blog.
Aw, thanks!
What happens to non muslim’s who have drowned and died and body has never been found? what does the Quran say?
Zainal
New Zealand
Interesting question! I’m not sure there’s any material on that subject directly, but I will look into it and hopefully have an answer shortly!
This isn’t a question so much as a comment! Today on NPR’s Fresh Air they will be talking with someone (I can’t remember his name) about the movement among states to enact laws banning Sharia. Thought it might be something that would interest you! The online audio should be available around 11pm your time. http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/
I stumbled upon this blog while in search of verses about Muhammad’s (pbuh) use of the toothpick during Ramadan, and let me say– what a fabulous idea! Many thanks for doing this!
Let me give you a bit of background to better understand my study of Islam. I have been dating a Pakistani man for the last year and a half. Having been raised in an ultra-conservative Christian family in the southern United States, and myself in search of my own faith, I knew once we became serious that I would want to study and better understand this religion for myself. I had a very elementary knowledge of Islam, most of which was gained by taking a “Women in World Religions” class while in college. I knew that I had only begun to skim the surface of such a detailed and widely practiced religion. While I do not consider my boyfriend to be a practicing Muslim, (his only observances are that he does not eat pork and occasionally fasts during the month of Ramadan), as you well know, it is impossible to remove him from the religion of Islam. It is an integral part of his family, culture, and traditions. I can see the influence of Islam even in the customary daily habits of him using the restroom, greeting others, and eating a meal. I have recently finished reading the Qu’ran it its entirety along with commentary, several other books by Islamic theologians, some of them moderate, some more conservative, as well as a book by a former Muslim who converted to Christianity. I have spent countless hours pouring over books and guzzling cup after cup of coffee in Barnes and Noble, have searched dozens of topics online, and had countless discussions with my boyfriend, but there are so many polar views, and it is often hard to differentiate between what is objective and what is subjective.
It was not until more recently that the dichotomy of our cultures and religions has started to bother me. I was not involved in any of his family’s Eid celebrations this year (while he, on the other hand, has been involved in the celebration of every holiday with my family, the religious and non-religious ones). I didn’t attend celebrations last year either, but thought little of it because we hadn’t been dating that long. I assumed that this year would be different because I have met all of his immediate family, sans one sister who lives out of state. However, nothing changed. He was just as down about the situation as I was and when we talked about things after Eid, he said that for his family the biggest issue is my religion, or lack thereof of Islam. I had always assumed that it was culture. I’m not sure how other Islamic ethnicities are, but I have found that Pakistanis are very ethnocentric, and want their children to marry within the culture, just as much if not more at times, as within the religion. However, this really bothers me because theologically speaking; it is permitted for Muslim men to marry Christian women. This brings me to my question (I apologize for the lengthy intro!): I am confused as to the status of Christians in relation to Islam. I know there are several Surahs in praise or complement of Christians, but there are also many others that speak very harshly of them. How does this add up in relation to Abrogation? For example, there several verses that say the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) are saved from the judgment of hell, yet there are others, such as Surah 4.116 that says: “God (Allah) forgiveth not (the sin of) joining other gods with Him (which is Islam’s biggest claim against Christianity) but he forgiveth Whom He Pleaseth other sins than this: one who joins other gods with God, hath strayed far, far away (from the right).” We also have Surah 5.5: “… (Lawful for you in marriage) are (not only) chaste women who are believers, but also chaste women among the People of the Book (that was) sent down before your time…” On the other hand, there is Surah 5.54 that says: “O believers, do not take the Jews and Christians as allies (some translations render this “for your friends and protectors), they are only allies to each other. If anyone of you takes them as allies, he is one of them. Surely Allah does not guide unjust people.”
There are several other examples that I could list here, some in favor of Christians, other surahs calling them “the worst of creatures,” but I’m sure you know them all.
What is your opinion on this? It seems that the Qu’ran says that all sins can be forgiven except the sin of shirk, which is what all Christians are guilty of. And how can a Muslim man take a Christian woman as his wife, if by just taking a Christian as a friend or ally is reason enough to be judged along with him? This seems a blatant contradiction to me. Is abrogation responsible for this? Was it permissible for Muslim men to marry Christian women initially within Islam and it was later abrogated? I have so many questions that I could ask, but I don’t want to overwhelm you. Consider this the first of many!
Best Regards,
Truth Seeker
Very interesting, Joanna 🙂 I would have appreciated to read what Jessica answered.
Thanks again for the wonderful response to my previous post! As I said before, I have loads of questions to ask. Here is the next one:
This question has to do with compulsion within Islam. Probably one of the most quoted verses of the Qu’ran is that of Surah 2.256 which states: “Let there be no force (or compulsion) in religion.” Of course, especially to most Western thinkers, this sounds like a wonderful, if not politically correct, philosophy. It’s open minded and tolerant; two credentials I am reminded our society lacks more and more each year as we near the anniversary of September 11th. However, in reading other various Surahs and several Hadith (almost exclusively those of Bukhari and Muslim…for those who don’t know, these are the two most trusted sources of Hadith in Sunni Islam), I am hard pressed to believe that this was the mentality of Muhammad (pbuh) and his companions brought to ancient Arabia. Let me sight some examples to the contrary:
Volume 1, Book 2, Number 25:
Narrated Ibn ‘Umar:
Allah’s Apostle said: “I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah’s Apostle, and offer the prayers perfectly and give the obligatory charity, so if they perform that, then they save their lives and property from me except for Islamic laws and then their reckoning (accounts) will be done by Allah.” (Bukhari)
And also Surah 9.29: “Fight those who believe not in God nor the Last Day nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by God and his apostle nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth (even if they are) of the people of the Book, until they pay the Jizya (religious tax) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”
To me, though, the most startling example of compulsion within Islam was made by the Prophet (pbuh) himself. On several occasions, when asked what was to be done with an apostate (someone who at one point was a Muslim, but later converted to Judaism, Christianity, Agnosticism, etc.), Muhammad said that they were to be killed. Just one such example was cited by Bukhari and Muslim as follows:
Abdullah bin Masud narrated that the messenger of Allah said:
“The blood of a Muslim may not be legally spilt other than in one of three [instances] : the married person who commits adultery; a life for a life; and one who forsakes his religion and abandons the community.”
Even to this day, there is a special tax imposed on Jews and Christians in some Islamic societies and in some cases, members of society are accused of blaspheming the Prophet, and subsequently sentenced to execution. How does this relate to the previously stated revelation in the Qu’ran? Your thoughts and opinions?
Hello, here again!
Okay, my question for today is about the compilation of the Qu’ran. Almost all Muslims claim that the Qu’ran that we have today contains the exact revelations that Muhammad (pbuh) received from Gabriel. On a few accounts, I have come across some information that says that Caliph Uthman had differing version of the Qu’ran burned and one unified version instituted at the primary Qu’ran that we now have. Apparently there was much discord amongst Muslims of the time, as well as fear on the part of the Caliph that there would be doctrinal debates and confusion if something was not done to unify the Qu’ran. What have you heard of this and how do you think this affects the Muslim claim that the Qu’ran has never been changed?
Assalamu ‘aleyckum w’rahmatullah
Thanks for the blog and your wish to share knowledge with us, that is – at least for some of us:o) – appreciated.
I do find your approach praiseworthy, I have somehow an equal approach, though I primarily am focusing on Judaism and Islam, especially law in the two. This also leads me to my question, which is how you see the relation between Islamic and Judaic Law in the early years of Islam, if any at all? I know that RaMBaM (Maimonides), Z”L, was influenced by Islamic thinking, primarily when it comes to Philosophy (where it probably would be more correct to say that he shared the Muslim interest for the Greek philosophers), but he was also influenced by Islamic methodology when it comes to Fiqh, which is evident from his use of Qiyas in his Mishneh Torah.
But how much did it go the other way? Did early Muslim scholars let them selves be inspired from Jewish scholars? And if so, only when they converted and brought whatever Jewish knowledge and methodology they might have with them? I’m thinking on people like Ka’b al-Ahbar.
All the best
Shmuel Aryeh
Hey! Saw this on the BBC site today: “Is anti-Muslim politics on the rise in Florida?” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16152509 — Well, is it? 😉
I really like your writing style, fantastic info , regards for putting up : D.
Hey, welcome to 2012. I’m anxiously waiting for you to talk about the language situation that you hinted at a long time ago. One is, people are supposed to read the book in the original Arabic, but it was written in Classical Arabic, which no one speaks anymore, so isn’t everyone reading it in translation even then? How does this compare with English speakers reading Chaucer, Shakespeare, etc.?
Another one is that old blurb about ‘Islam means peace” because they share the same triconsonantal root.
Please can i get about ten definitions of religion?
Please can i get about ten definitions of religion??
Sure, but just to check, is this what you mean? If not, could you forward a link or a citation for me to check out?
Thanks!
re⋅li⋅gion
/rɪˈlɪdʒən/ [ri-lij-uhn]
–noun
1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.
3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.
4. the life or state of a monk, nun, etc.: to enter religion.
5. the practice of religious beliefs; ritual observance of faith.
6. something one believes in and follows devotedly; a point or matter of ethics or conscience: to make a religion of fighting prejudice.
7. religions, Archaic. religious rites.
8. Archaic. strict faithfulness; devotion: a religion to one’s vow.
—Idiom
9. get religion, Informal.
a. to acquire a deep conviction of the validity of religious beliefs and practices.
b. to resolve to mend one’s errant ways: The company got religion and stopped making dangerous products.
Can you put this to rest? For years I’ve been seeing this supposed quote by Khomeni floating around the internet, and asking people to provide the source. No one ever has. Usually cited as somewhere in the 4th volume of his 2-volume book, although sometimes given as 4th edition. Never a specific location.
Link
Link
Check your spam filter? I sent a question, but it had links in it …
Yep, it did – don’t know why, though! WordPress is going crazy.
Les Brown: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
I have a question for you, and it may fall a bit outside the purview of your blog but I’m curious. Recently I was having lunch and eavesdropped on a (very loud) conversation about marriage, divorce, and Islam. The two people talking were girls, and neither of them was obviously a Muslim (and I know appearances can be deceiving, but by this I mean neither was wearing a head scarf or anything). One was very forcibly asserting that Islam was the first religion to allow and embrace the concept of divorce. Is that true? I have to admit, I’m a bit skeptical about her claims, so I thought I would ask!
i have 7big fishes in my aquarium.iam little warried that iam doing worg thing. please help me to suggest me right way of islaam that i keep them or sell them to any one…
I hope everything is well with you.
I would like, if you have the time and feel for writing a little about it, to hear your opinion on the debate between the orientalists and the anti-orientalists in regards to Islamic law and its development. I’m particular thinking about Halaq’s reactions to Schacht, and the various responses to his criticism of Schacht.
Do you feel that it is a fair criticism and how do you think, if at all, that it mirrors the discourse of modern academic political discussions?
All the best
Shmuel
A very good, and very technical question – it will take me a little while to dig up the relevant citations, so please bare with me! I’m aiming to answer it next week!
If you were to create a fantasy/alternative universe world that referenced Crusader-era religious politics in an exaggerated and fictitiously magical way, what would be a good way to make sure that all religious themes are represented as respectfully as possible? Are there any resources on the folklore of that time period?
Right, so… Djinn. Also Ifrits, and the like. How much are they like the Sidhe (later called Faeries) of the British Isles?
From a folklore perspective, despite the (notable) differences in cultural and geographical background, I see some definite similarities. They’re both races of individually powerful (in varying degrees) beings, capricious and dangerous to deal with (again in varying degrees), supernatural (or at least magical), but not particularly aligned with Heaven or Hell, angels or devils. Shapechanging features prominently into stories about them; I think both races have been known to interbreed with mortals; and then sometimes they show up in some odd stories that don’t seem to quite fit with anything I’ve just generalized about.
From an anthropological perspective, there also seem to be some odd similarities; they both look like cases of older, more-or-less animistic stories and beliefs that survived and were incorporated into the arrival of newer, more formalized montheistic/dualistic religions. There’s an additional similarity in that a lot of the remaining stories about them are seen through the lenses of those later religious beliefs.
What do you think? Is it a viable comparison? Or am I way, way off-base here?
I think it’s a valid comparison, but I think there are also some pitfalls of comparing across traditions. Let me dig up some actual citations, and I’ll post a more complete answer shortly!
[Sorry if this is a 2nd posting.]
I appreciate your blog very much. It’s actually rather amazing that you do this.
I have a friend of the Fox News always on in the living room sort. He knows I am of a totally different political disposition, but sends me items from time to time that he thinks might persuade me to come around some to his views. Recently he sent me a link to “Why We Are Afraid, A 1400 Year Secret, by Dr Bill Warner,” a YouTube video. And he asks me what I think of it.
I found it repugnant and wrote him that I would get back to him. My assumption from my own general knowledge is that Warner is being highly selective in picking facts to embellish with his scornful, incendiary rhetoric even when he is concentrated on the period of expansion across North Africa. (His selectivity shows chiefly, of course, in simply ignoring any European war violence other than the Crusades. Not to mention American. Clearly he would argue that all that ugliness had nothing to do with Christianity, whereas the wars of Muslim nations are driven by their religion.)
In any case, when I took to the internet to find some solid responses to the Warner diatribe, I found practically nothing. Eventually, your blog did show up, but not in response to that particular and particularly ugly and perhaps sadly effective speech of his. I assume he gives it where and whenever he can, and obviously it has made it to my friend’s attention.
I have perused with interest the two blogs I find on Warner here (Crusades and 5 Principles) but they don’t get at the core of his speech, which I take to be a claim that, historically and down to the present, Muslim people are far more given to war and intolerance than Christian people. There is the corollary supporting claim that this is due to religion in the case of Muslim people, but regardless of cause, there is the question of fact about the people.
My question for you, then, is to ask for help in tracking down thinkers who have taken the trouble to respond fully to that disturbing speech. Perhaps some of your readers could help, too.
Hello, and thanks for the kind words! Actually, Fox News-type friends is a lot of how this blog came about – friends and family used to send me articles and emails they received with sort of ‘this seems wrong but I don’t know enough about why?’ type questions, so I figured there was a need.
I will definitely look up the Bill Warner segment and respond; however, it probably won’t be until the end of the month or early May, as I’m finishing the last revisions of my PhD, which is both taking up all my time and raising my blood pressure enough that I think another dose of Dr. Warner might do me in! 🙂 But please believe that a response is in the works.
In the meantime, if any of my regular readers have seen the video or are willing to go watch it and respond, please feel free!
Thanks! ~Jessica
Hi, Dr (yet?) Jessica — any hope for that response in the works? Things seem only to be getting worse over here — Texas right now. Who knows what’s next. b
Not quite Dr yet, but hopefully soon!
Hi Jessica,
A very nice blog attracting sincere and relevant questions 🙂 Congratulations for this job. I have been reading for a while papers dealing with the authenticity of the hadiths and I must admit I still didn’t find a kind of review that mentions the positions of the different researchers (from schacht to MM Al-A’zami, from Juynboll to Hallaq … ). Do you know any paper or book that could help me getting a clear understanding of the main trends in academia, regarding the hadiths litterature and their corresponding arguments ? Could you tell me about the western university groups that are still working on this topic ?
Thanks very much for your help 🙂
A last thing, some of your answers to your readers are not available (example, your answers to Joanna questions), any reasons for that ? 🙂
Thank you once again for this blog 🙂
Nader
Hi Nader,
Thanks for the nice comments! I have a post that will go up shortly that I’ve already written, and then I’ll respond to your question next. Just to make sure I understand – are you asking for works by Western scholars about hadith or works analyzing the various schools of thought among Western scholars who study hadith (or both)? I guess, to put it another way, are you asking for Western secondary literature about hadith or reviews of that secondary literature? Again, either or both are all fine answers, I just want to make sure I’m addressing your question correctly.
As for Joanna’s questions, I know I did answer a number of them:
Status of Christians in Islam: https://askanislamicist.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/status-of-christians-in-islam/
About compulsion in Islam: https://askanislamicist.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/compulsion-in-islam/
On the completion of the Quran: https://askanislamicist.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/compilation-of-the-quran/
If you think I missed one, or if you want me to revisit any of these topics, please let me know.
Thanks!
Jessica
Hi Jessica,
Ultimately, I would be happy to get an exhaustive review of the different schools of thought among scholars (not only western) who study hadiths. Reading books for each of them (Schacht, MM Azami, Fazlur Rahman, Juynboll, etc) would take me years otherwise … 🙂
Thanks for your answer. I hope it is clearer now.
Happy “Eid al Fitr” for your Muslim readers,
Nader
Dear [Jessica]:
Since my initial contact with you I have made a sincere effort to learn more – not become an expert – just to learn more so that I might better understand Islam, “average Muslims”, Islamists, and Islamicists. In the past eight months I have read the Qur’an in several versions, including Rodwell, Yusuf Ali, Ali with commentaries, Pickthall, Mohsin Khan, the Qur’an in Modern English, and at present trying to plow through Qutb’s 18-volumes of pure torture. My library now would surely make a casual observer believe that I’m a Muslim . . . which I decidedly am not.
All this and spare-time entangling with the various ahadith collections in our local libraries and on the internet, Reliance of the Traveller, The Life of Muhammad translated by A. Guillaume (a most difficult read), and a variety of commentaries on Islam by Muslims and non-Muslims.
Now that I’ve soaked up as much on Islam as my Christian heart and brain can stand, I’ve started going through your posts since the beginning. My first question to you is: When did you change from being an advocate to being an acolyte to being an apostle? It’s hard to find the exact time, but somewhere along the way you seem to have lost your objectivity, one of the essentials for what you claim to be – an intellectual.
The second question is: Why the stubborn insistence that there is no such thing as Islamic terrorism? Yes, many feel that that is a tautology, but many of us also recognize that the world is aflame and awash in bodyless heads, and at the center of that flame is one common factor – Islam. To say that the Old Testament catalogs such things as stonings and beheadings is a red herring, since those things have not been practiced for millennia. To condemn the Crusades is to forget that had Muslims not conquered the so-called Christian lands of the Middle East, North Africa, and much of Europe, there would have been no need for the Crusades.
The third question: Does not abrogation nullify most of the “be-good-to-non-Muslims” parts of the Qur’an (those ‘revelations’ from Mecca) so that we non-Muslims are at best dhimmis?
And, by the way, I like the way your latest post correspondent spelled ‘litterature’ since that appears to be mostly what ahadith musings are.
Finally, I have given up all hope on Islam, since to me there is no way for the world to live in peace as long as there is the fervent Muslim belief that the Qur’an is the word-for-word, unchanging and unchangeable word of Allah. As long as the Qur’an (and its author Muhammed) are standards to which Muslims aspire, there is no hope, and academics who tell us otherwise are doing us no favors.
You write well, and you have certainly caused me to do a lot of research I would else not have done, so for that I thank you. But please, don’t go much farther across that line between Islamicist and Islamist.
Lee Skinner
Hi Lee,
I edited your comment because I prefer to keep my full name off this site – not that I don’t think people can figure it out; I just choose to make it a little tougher for them. A proper reply is forthcoming.
Jessica
Dear Jessica, I hope by now PhD — I am coming back to hope for a response from you or from one of your readers to my earlier request for some kind of reasoned response to “Why We Are Afraid, A 1400 Year Secret, by Dr Bill Warner,” a YouTube video that a Fox News-committed friend of mine sent me to comment on long ago. As i said in my earlier post, the video is an anger-fear arousing diatribe in the form of reasoned argument that seems to be very effective in arousing fear and anger in certain I-fear large parts of the US population. For me to answer it would require that I jump into a vast sea of historical info with which I am unacquainted and in which I would likely drown. I am confident that he is cherry-picking and hyperventilating, but I can’t demonstrate that even to my own satisfaction. Again, can you or anyone out there help? Perhaps by pointing me towards some site where someone else has answered him (Warner) carefully. Still hoping, bob
Hi Bob! It is indeed Dr. Jessica now – I’m very excited and still kind of confused by it!
Sorry, I must not have emailed you back when I posted my response – I did do a post about Dr. Warner’s youtube video, which is here: https://askanislamicist.wordpress.com/2015/05/20/1400-years-is-actually-a-really-long-time/. I hope it helps!
SUPER!! I have just this minute started to read it, but I REALLY, REALLY APPRECIATE IT. Will get back to you when I’ve finished. I also just sent a link to the Fox-News friend. b
PS — I guess I forgot to click the notify me of new comments box. That explains why I’m three weeks late in noticing this.
tell me orientialist point of view about islamic law…
e mail me @ 8625425@gmail.com
Hi Asad! I’ve talked a bit about Orientalism in Islamic law here: https://askanislamicist.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/schacht-hallaq-and-islamic-law/. If you have more specific questions, please let me know!
Hi, thanks for doing this!
What is your opinion on this one? https://np.reddit.com/r/islam/comments/4s2n8j/serious_is_the_qur%CA%BE%C4%81n_from_cover_to_cover_full_of/?sort=old
Regards
Wish you the best,
Hi, I have some time on my hands and want to do a thorough reading of the Quran. I would like to read it in the order that it was revealed so i can also understand the historical context. Which translation or translations would you recommend (or any other books that might help me). BTW i am a Muslim.
Salem Aleykom Aysha, I have just received a translation of the Quran made by Mohamed Assad (Weiss Leopold). Based on Hasan Gai Eaton, it is an excellent translation. It would be, by the way, highly interesting to know Jessica’s point of view about the author and his translation. One good point is the author’s extensive use of notes to explain the verses and the choice he made for some key words. Keep in mind also that any translation is an interpretation .. it is not the Coran any longer !
Regards (Salem),
Dear Jessica,
I hope you are still taking questions on this site. I am an aspiring Religion teacher (high school level) who want to ask about early Muslim history. To summarize, there is a lot of fear, hate and outright contempt of Islam and Muslims today which I find disturbing, while at the same time I find it difficult to provide refreshing viewpoints of this religion. Inevitably the question that comes up is regarding Jihad – since the early Muslims were warriors and conquerors, this makes people suspicious of the whole religion. I want to be able to present the early history of Islam to students while helping them avoid the “essentialist” pitfall, but this seems easier said than done. My main question is as follows:
– What were the primary motivations for the Arab (Rashidun/Umayyad) conquests? Is it possible to say whether there was a theological component to this or not? Was it a holy war to expand the realm of submission to God or were the conquests “merely political” (as Karen Armstrong among others has claimed)? Personally I find the “merely political” argument weak because there was not yet any separation of “politics” and “religion” in the modern sense. Yet for a long period of time the Umayyad caliphs apparently did not care to convert anyone.
– Secondly, there is a video series which I consider using in future classes. It has the merit of giving a feeling for what the early ummah might have been like, and depicting the early Muslims as noble and upright and easy to emphasise with, something I believe is needed in today’s climate. What I find most interesting here is how the author narrates an evolution of Islamic doctrine during the Rashidun caliphate. He claims that Abu Bakr created the doctrine for apostasy (first link) and that Umar created the doctrine of dar al-Islam/dar al-Harb (second link) in order to justify the invasion of Persia. I believe this could serve as an “essentialist anti-dote” for students, yet I am not sure if it is correct. The author offers no sources and I find surprisingly little about the Rashidun caliphate online and in libraries. Which brings me back to the first question…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no5RCHRbknk (9:00-10:15)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBI1SlX_vv0 (4:00-7:30)
Kind regards,
Kim
Hi Kim! Thanks for the question – I’ve posted a response here: https://askanislamicist.wordpress.com/2017/04/21/curriculum-on-early-islam/