FreeBookNotes has 2 more books by Reza Aslan, with a total of 3 study guides. vocabulary. He probes and asks many questions throughout, but he never seems to wonder why Mohammad never appointed a successor, and how the contenders and their descendants have been battling ever since (three of the four successors to Mohammad were poisoned or murdered), or why he didn't write down his revelations of the Quran at the time, which led to it being canonized and codified decades later by Uthman, a leader Aslan himself deems corrupt. Worse, as the first generation of Companions passed on, the community had to rely increasingly on the reports that the second generation of Muslims (known as the Tabiun) had received from the first; when the second generation died, the community was yet another step removed from the actual words and deeds of the Prophet. This set the stage for the emergence of a bona fide monotheism. For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: http://www.equip.org, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. Rather, the Christian Reformation was an argument over the future of the faitha violent, bloody argument that engulfed Europe in devastation and war for more than a century., As is the case with most prophets, Muhammads birth was accompanied by signs and portents. arabic name for the city of medina. The events of 9/11 guaranteed one thingthat the Western world must come to understand Islam. As a young man, Muhammad lived in Mecca, a city severely stratified along economic lines, where a group called the Quraysh held the reins of political power and religious influence. God is most great (Allahu Akbar), God is most great, God is most great, God is most great, I witness that there is no god but Allah (the God); I witness that there is no god but Allah. Published last summer, the book serves as an essential resource to at least two groups: Christians who desire to share their faith with Muslims and Muslims interested in investigating the claims of Christianity. In short, a really interesting book for both Muslims and anyone who wants to know more about the origins and growth of this Abrahamic faith. Wherever you turn, there is the face of God says the Quran God is Mighty and Wise (2:115). Aslan, in Chapter 6, describes a welter of variants of Islam, and intramural disputes that were dramatically polarizing. In other words, human beings cannot be given the secret of ultimate reality, for such knowledge cannot be shared, but must be experienced through an arduous inner journey toward self-annihilation. He blames Western imperialism and the misinterpretations of Islamic law by past scholars for the current controversies within Islam, questioning the clash of civilizations thesis that peoples cultural and religious identity will be the primary source of world conflict in the post Cold War era. I have no need of you today., Considering how effortlessly religious dogma has become intertwined with political ideology, how can we overcome the clash-of-monotheisms mentality that has so deeply entrenched itself in the modern world? This became the site of Medina, the City of the Prophet. Aslan details the significance of Medina in Chapter 3, where he makes the arresting statement, Today, Medina is simultaneously the archetype of Islamic democracy and the impetus for Islamic militancy (52). No god but God (Updated Edition) by Reza Aslan: 9780812982442 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books A fascinating, accessible introduction to Islam from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Zealot and host of Believer FINALIST FOR THE GUARDIAN. Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher and miracle worker walked across the Galilee, gathering followers to establish what he called the "Kingdom of God." The Islamic Reformation is already here. Chapter 7, In the Footsteps of Martyrs: From Shiism to Khomeinism, brings this sectarianism up-to-date. I am far more interested in the historical aspect of any religion than I'll ever be in its theology, and Reza Aslan proves to be thought-provoking at best. While both are considered equally valid approaches, the tension between tafsir and tawil is but one of the inevitable consequences of trying to interpret an eternal and uncreated scripture that is nevertheless firmly grounded in a specific historical context., Nor is it surprising that three of the first four leaders of Islam were killed by fellow Muslims, though it is important to recognize that both the rebels who murdered Uthman and the Kharijites who assassinated Ali were, like their spiritual successors among the Jihadists of today, far more concerned with maintaining their personal ideal of Muhammads community than with protecting that community from external enemies.. A SUMMARY CRITIQUE NO GOD BUT GOD: The Reinterpretation of Islam a book review of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan . But this will be more than a home. The book deals with the history of Islam and provides arguments over the liberal interpretation of the religion. In one I say well done, and thank you Reza Aslan, for your clear prose, your sympathetic defense of Islam, the remarkable way you cram so much--religious history, political history, theology, religious practice--into so few pages. Aslans own account of Muhammads community indicates that non-Muslim citizens had more limited rights than the Muslims who shaped the ideals and social arrangements of their society. Islam is no different than Judaism or Christianity in being human responses to the religious imperative. The author argues that the Quran does not command women to be covered with the veil, and that the concept of jihad was intended solely for defensive purposes. As an academic, I know how distressingly rare it is to find an writer with strong scholarly chops and an accessible writing voice. One could argue that the clash of monotheisms is the inevitable result of monotheism itself. It was the followers who came after both of them that twisted their message. When I thought Martin Luther King Jr., I would think of the Civil Rights Movement, the March on Washington, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the seminal I Have a Dream. My understanding of him was limited to a single optic, that of racial justice. Also includes sites with a short overview, synopsis, book report, or summary of Reza Aslans No god but God. BuffaloLib's library catalog tends to include a brief plot synopsis and a collection of selected trade reviews for each entry. As the quintessential colonialist, Cromer had no interest in the plight of Muslim women; the veil was, for him, an icon of the backwardness of Islam, and the most visible justification for Europes civilizing mission in the Middle East., Grateful for their generosity, Muhammad orders the land to be leveled, the graves dug up, and the palm trees cut down for timber to build a modest home. There is no God but one, and He is Jesus" (349). If women could no longer be considered property, men complained, not only would their wealth be drastically reduced, but their own meager inheritances would now have to be split with their sisters and daughtersmembers of the community who, they argued, did not share an equal burden with the men. . In No god but God, internationally acclaimed scholar Reza Aslan explains Islamthe origins and evolution of the faithin all its beauty and complexity. True, there is only one God, but that is just the beginning. . Intra-Islamic Sectarianism. "No god but God" is a text written by Iranian-American Muslim scholar Reza Aslan. The four travelers represent humanity in its search for an inner spiritual need it cannot define and which it expresses in different ways. The reviewer describes their feelings about the story and characters along with a brief plot summary. The Quran is Gods direct self-revelation to humanity. No God but One: Allah or Jesus? This book really took the top of my head off. While the details of the Amirs religion have been lost to history, most scholars are convinced that by the sixth century C.E., [Quoting the Quranic passage in chapter 3 verse 84]. With this simple profession of faith, Muhammad was declaring to Mecca that the God of the heavens and the earth required no intermediate whatsoever, but could be accessed by anyone., The occultation of the Twelfth Imam, or the, The relationship between the Jews and pagan Arabs was symbiotic in that not only were the Jews heavily Arabized, but the Arabs were also significantly influenced by Jewish beliefs and practices., For most of the Western world, September 11, 2001, signaled the commencement of a worldwide struggle between Islam and the Westthe ultimate manifestation of the clash of civilizations. His strategy is to document the history of Islam, describe inner tensions within that historical context, and relate the resulting picture to current conditions, in a manner that is neither reckless nor misleading. Does he believe that all religions are equally valid? Brenna Clarke Gray, . Aslan is an excellent writer, and the book isn't too academic, but his command of Arabic and, at the same time, comprehensive familiarity with not one but at least three or four different English translations of the Quran (and the misunderstandings that result therefrom) makes this well worth reading. . He segues to this chapter with this brief paragraph: Fourteen hundred years of rabid debate over what it means to be a Muslim; of passionate arguments over the interpretation of the Quran and the application of Islamic law; of trying to reconcile a fractured community through appeals to Divine Unity; of tribal feuds, crusades, and world warsand Islam has finally begun its fifteenth century (248). Nabeel Qureshi seeks to remedy this dilemma in his latest book, No God but One: Allah or Jesus. Because it immersed me in a religion I don't know in a compelling way, and gave me enough of a platform of information to perhaps start seeking other answers, and for that I'll overlook a lot. And it is hard to ignore the fact that nearly one sixth of all reliable, A true Sufi, Shaykh Haeri writes, does not separate the inner from the outer, for when you start by purifying your inner self, you end up being concerned with the outer and with society., In Muhammads lifetime, the Quran was never collected in a single volume; in fact, it was never collected at all., Even al-Hallaj admitted that his experience of unity with God came after a long journey of inward reflection. Third, Aslans account of the origin and development of Islam follows a dubious principle of secular historical practice. I am struck by the contrast with Christianity, a historically older tradition. Get help and learn more about the design. Even presuming the raft of hostile orientalists he draws from represented the most neutral and authoritative of western scholarship on Islam, the author's own tone and framing make it needlessly more odious. But because every path eventually leads to the same destination, which path one takes is irrelevant., However, Saudi Arabia quickly discovered what the rest of the world would soon learn. As the events of the Indian Revolt demonstrated, the British believed that the best way to curb nationalist sentiment was to classify the indigenous population not as Indians, but as Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, etc. And el-Tabari points out that the first Muslim fast corresponded with, They made a solemn covenant to return to the pristine religion of Abraham, whom they considered neither Jewish nor Christian, but a pure monotheist: a hanif (from the Arabic root huf, meaning to turn away from, such as someone who turns away from idolatry). Email Address: Follow Many reviews are behind a subscriber paywall. Aslan focuses primarily on the practices of early Islam, but also discusses life within the Abbasid Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the modern Muslim world. To me, this was worth reading, because Reza Aslan made the story if Islam come alive and told me so much I didn't know about Islam. On one hand, the magnifying glass of expertise is angled to offer a sharper image of the Muslim community, its history, its customs, and its ambitions, to show a bewildering array of specimens. Sites like SparkNotes with a No god but God study guide or cliff notes. God didn't exactly die, god chose to become the universe and ceased being a separate entity. Religion is the story of faith., But what is most desperately needed is not so much a better appreciation of our neighbors religion as a broader, more complete understanding of religion itself., Like so many prophets before him, Muhammad never claimed to have invented a new religion. Elsewhere the Quran is more explicit: Permission to fight is given only to those who have been oppressed who have been driven from their homes for saying, God is our Lord (22:39; emphasis added)., This creator God was called Allah, which is not a proper name but a contraction of the word al-ilah, meaning simply the God., There are striking similarities between the Christian and Quranic descriptions of the Apocalypse, the Last Judgment, and the paradise awaiting those who have been saved., But tawhid, which literally means making one, implies more than just monotheism. I witness that Muhammad is His messenger. . Whether man made or heavenly sent, timeless or bound to a specific era, there's a thing or two about Islam that one can learn to appreciate. Perhaps then we will recognize the intimate connections that bind us all together beyond any cultural, ethnic, or religious affiliations. Your existence is my own, and it is also my will., All that matters is to be on a path, to be constantly moving toward the topone measured, controlled, and strictly supervised step at a timepassing diligently through specific abodes and stations along the Way, each of which is marked by an ineffable experience of spiritual evolution, until one finally reaches the end of the journey: that moment of enlightenment in which the veil of reality is stripped away, the ego obliterated, and the self utterly consumed by God., The loss of Abu Talibs protection was certainly demoralizing, if not detrimental to Muhammads physical security. I disagree with Aslan - it matters a great deal whether the beliefs of a religious community are shaped by actual historical events (including amazing ones) or whether such beliefs are based on falsehood. Each chapter of the book deals with a specific topic within Islam. No god but God by Reza Aslan Genre: His books include No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam (published 2005) and How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization and the End of the War on Terror (published 2009). Tawhid means that God is Oneness. If there is only one God, then there may be only one truth, and that can easily lead to bloody conflicts of irreconcilable absolutisms., One would be tempted to call the members of such a new community Muslims (literally those who are submissive to God). Publishers Weekly reviews vary in length, with all focusing on a synopsis of the book and a look at the quality of writing. Men are the support of women [qawwamuna ala an-nisa] as God gives some more means than others, and because they spend of their wealth (to provide for them). In No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, Reza Aslan chronicles the development of Islam from its unpromising beginnings into a force to be reckoned with worldwide. Browse books: Recent| popular| #| a| b| c| d| e| f| g| h| i| j| k| l| m| n| o| p| q| r| s| t| u| v| w| x| y| z|. The book describes the history of Islam and argues for a liberal interpretation of the religion. Religion is the story of faith." However,it is not merely the tension that exists between the Islamic religion . It would be interesting to know whether Aslan would rather live in an Islamic democracy than in a democracy such as we have in the United States today. When fourteen centuries ago Muhammed launched a revolution in Mecca to replace the archaic, rigid, and inequitable strictures of tribal society with a radically new vision of divine morality and social egalitarianism, he tore apart the fabric of traditional Arab society. But this is what I call uzum, replied the Turk. Clearly, education and tolerance are essential., Because the concept of the Trinity is not explicitly mentioned in the New Testament (the term was coined by one of the oldest and most formidable church fathers, Tertullian of Carthage, early in the third century C.E. He valued her and she was his advisor, advocate, lover and friend. This last point bears repeating. Reza Aslan shows a snapshot of Islam from its origin to its evolution. But the cleansing is inevitable, and the tide of reform cannot be stopped. I also thought it shameful the glancing way he wrote about Sept. 11. He is the founder of AslanMedia.com, an online journal for news and entertainment about the Middle East and the world, and co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of BoomGen Studios, the premier entertainment brand for creative content from and about the Greater Middle East. The fact is that the financial and social advantages of being an Arab Muslim in the eighth and ninth centuries were such that Islam quickly became an lite clique, which a non-Arab could join only through a complex process that involved becoming first the client of an Arab., Because human beings do not have the capacity to attain knowledge of God on their own, the Imam becomes a continuous necessity for all societies and in every era. In being human responses to the religious imperative along with a brief plot.! Address: Follow Many reviews are behind a subscriber paywall buffalolib 's library catalog to. Of secular historical practice ; No God but God study guide or cliff notes together beyond cultural. 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