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Islam: Beliefs and Institutions ISLAM BELIEFS AND INSTITUTIONS April 13, 2004 www.muhammadanism.org Greek text requires Code2000 font BY THE SAME AUTHOR LE BERCEAU DE L'ISLAM. VOL. I. LE CLIMAT. LES BEDOUINS. Rome, 1914. FATIMA ET LES FILLES DE MAHOMET: NOTES CRITIQUES POUR L'ETUDE DE LA SIRA. Rome, 1912. L’ISLAM: CROYANCES ET INSTITUTIONS. Beyrouth, 1926. LA SYRIE: PRECIS HISTORIQUE. Beyrouth, 1921. ALSO ARTICLES IN BULLETIN DE L'INSTITUT EGYPTIEN. JOURNAL ASIATIQUE. RECHERCHES DE SCIENCE RELIGIEUSE. RIVISTA DEGLI STUDI ORIENTALI. The following articles from the 'MELANGES DE I. A FACULTE ORIENTALE DE BEYROUTH' are also published separately:— ETUDES SUR LE RÈGNE DU CALIFE OMAYADE MO’AWIA IER. 1906—08. LE CALIFAT DE YAZID IER. 1909-21. LA CITE ARABE DE TAIF A LA VEILLE DE L'HEGIRE. 1922. LA MECQUE A LA VEILLE DE L'HEGIRE. 1924. LA Badia ET LA Hira SOUS LES OMAIYADES: UN MOT A PROPOS Msatta. 1910. LE TRIUMVIRAT ABOU BAKR, OMAR ET ABOU 'OBAIDA. 1910. PETITE HISTOIRE DE SYRIE ET DU LIBAN. 1924. LES SANCTUAIRES PREISLAMITES DANS L'ARABIE OCCIDENTALE. 1926. ISLAM BELIEFS AND INSTITUTIONS BY H. LAMMENS, S.J. PROFESSOR OF ARABIC AT ST. JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY, BEYROUT TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY SIR E. DENISON ROSS DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL STUDIES, LONDON METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON First Published in 1929 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN CONTENTS PAGE FOREWORD ix I THE CRADLE OF ISLAM: PRE-ISLAMITE ARABIA I 1. THE HEJAZ I The Climate—The Nefud—The Oases. 2. POPULATION 5 The Beduins—Their Portrait—Arabic Language and Poetry— Beduin Character—Hospitality—Courage—Tenacity— Anarchy—The Tribal Chief—Mekka—Government at Mekka—Commercial Life—Caravans—Site of Mekka. 3. RELIGION 17 The Ka'ba—No Idols—The Jews—The Christians. II MUHAMMAD: THE FOUNDER OF ISLAM 24 I. MEKKAN PERIOD 24 Muhammad's Youth—Marriage, Vocation—First Preaching— Failure, The Hijra. 2. MEDINESE PERIOD. 28 Muhammad at Medina—The Battles, Badr—Ohod—War of the 'Trench'—Diplomacy—Expulsion of the Jews—Defeat at Muta—Conquest of Mekka—Last Successes—Death of Muhammad—His Succession. v vi ISLAM BELIEFS AND INSTITUTIONS PAGE III THE QORAN: THE SACRED BOOK OF ISLAM 37 The Qoran—Its Authenticity—Present Form—Exegesis—Chief Commentaries—Mekkan Suras—Medinese Suras—Dogma in the Suras—Legends of the Prophets—Christology—Escha- tology—Influence of the Qoran. THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM 56 The 'Shahada'—The Theodicy of Islam—Prayer—The Zakat— Fasting—The Pilgrimage to Mekka—The Jehad—The Personal Statute—Other Prescriptions. IV THE 'SUNNA', OR TRADITION OF ISLAM 65 The Sunna—Its Importance—Complement of the Qoran—The Sunna of the 'Companions '—The Hadith—Criticism—Chief Collections of Hadith —The 'Six Books'. V JURISPRUDENCE AND ISLAMIC LAW 82 Origin—The 'Roots' of Fiqh—Early Schools—Orthodox Schools —Their Methods—Differences—Casuistry—Modern Practice —Ijma'—The Living Authority—Ijtihad—No Councils—The 'Ulema—The Qadi—No Clergy—The Caliphate. VI ASCETICISM AND MYSTICISM OF ISLAM 111 The Qoran and Asceticism—Sufism—Christian Influence— Influence of Ghazali—Other Influences—Deviations and Esoterism—The Inquisition and the Sufis—Sufi Fraternities— The 'Dhikr’—Music—Internal Organization of the Fraternities—The Chief Fraternities— Their Present Position. VII THE SECTS OF ISLAM 140 Their Number—The Kharijites—The Shi'as—'Kitman' or 'Taqiyya’—The Invisible Imam—The Imamites or 'Twelvers' —The Mahdi—Divergences between Sunnis and Shi'as—Shi'a Exegesis—The Metoualis—The Zaidites—The Isma'ilis —The Druses—The Nosairis—The 'Ali-ilahis.' . CONTENTS vii PAGE VIII REFORMISTS AND MODERNISTS 179 Reaction and Reform—Ibn Taimiyya—The Wahhabis—Ibn Sa‘ud—The Ahmadiyya—Babism—Behai'sm—'Abbas-Effendi—The Present-day Problem of the Caliphate—Nationalism—Pan-Islamic Congress — Modernism—In India—In Egypt—In Turkey—Some Statistical Data—Future Prospects. BIBLIOGRAPHY 227 THE QORAN, PRINCIPAL VERSES EXPOUNDED OR QUOTED 241 INDEX 243 BLANK PAGE FOREWORD A BOOK written in good faith! This work seeks to be no more, no less. Neither controversial, nor polemical; sine ira nec studio. An entirely objective account, as its sub- title announces, of the beliefs and institutions of Islam. Otherwise, a manual—that is to say, a popular work. But I venture to hope that Islamists and Orientalists will recognize that it is a popular work which has drawn its information from the fountain-heads of the Qoran, of Islamic tradition, of the Sira, etc. To these sources let me add a prolonged contact with Muslim circles. In the matter of references I have been content to limit myself to the Qoran. It is first and foremost contemporary Islam which is here considered, Islam as formed by the evolution of thirteen centuries. But the details supplied enable the reader to follow its historical development. I take for granted a knowledge of the outline of its political history from the death of the Prophet onwards. I have omitted vanished sects, also the description of the quarrels of Muslim scholasticism, those which gave birth to the schools of the Mu‘tazilites, the Ash-‘arites, the Murjites, etc., contenting myself with such brief allusion to them as the account of the beliefs requires. As regards private institutions, marriage, slavery, etc., the author has confined himself to essential elements, sacrificing picturesque detail. Beyrout, 1926 ix BLANK PAGE ISLAM BELIEFS AND INSTITUTIONS I THE CRADLE OF ISLAM: PRE-ISLAMITE ARABIA ARABIA presents the picture of a rectangle terminating in the south of Nearer Asia. This gigantic screen of inhospitable territory intervenes between the fabled lands of India and the classical East, the cradle of our civilization. Western Arabia alone in its mountainous complexity will claim our attention in this survey. There, to the east of the Red Sea, about half-way between Syria and the Indian Ocean in the province called Hejaz, Islam was born. From this region, bounded on the north by Syria, the east by Nejd, the south by Yemen and the west by the Eritrean Sea, sprang the impulse which resulted in the Muslim conquests and expansion. It is, then, to the Hejaz that we shall devote our first pages: to the Hejaz, the cradle of Islam. I. THE HEJAZ CLIMATE. The climate of this province is tropical and the heat oppressive, except in certain mountainous 1 2 ISLAM BELIEFS AND INSTITUTIONS regions situated on the borders of Nejd and of Yemen. In this region the picturesque district where the town of Taif stands about 1,500 metres high, and especially its southern extension, the mountain chain of Sarat reaching a height of 10,000 feet, might pass for an Alpine resort. The climate of the Hejaz, intemperate during the summer, is rigorous, even in winter, especially on the exposed steppes of the interior, where at night the thermometer then falls below zero. Everything in Arabia is harsh and decisive: the weather, the colours of the landscape, the character of the inhabitants, their constitution all nerves, muscle and bone—their language possessing so poor a gamut of vowel sounds, side by side with a veritable debauch of consonants and gutturals—and finally their alphabet in which more than half their characters are only distinguished from one another by diacritical signs. Rain falls at very long and irregular intervals during the winter and at the beginning of spring only. Periods of complete drought, possibly extending over a period of three years or more, are also known. On the other hand, there are sometimes exceptionally rainy years. Rainstorms of short duration—but of extraordinary violence— occur, veritable water-spouts and cloud-bursts, which in a few hours send flowing down the hollow valleys temporary rivers as wide as the Nile and the Euphrates, sweeping away whole encampments with their flocks and herds. At Mekka the rains penetrate into the Ka'ba and overthrow it. These cataracts put new life into the steppes: reduce the excessive salinity of the soil, and develop in a few days the hardy pastoral flora of the desert. It is the rabi or the festival of nature for the flocks and their watchers. ‘Milk and butter, as an Arab author says, flow in streams. The emaciated little Beduin children grow fat-bellied and fill out in all THE CRADLE OF ISLAM 3 directions. Their shape, tubby and full to bursting, makes them look like puppies gorged with mother's milk.' In ordinary times the camels do without water for four or even five days at a time: but now, full-fed on grass and succulent plants lush with sap, they no longer need be led to the distant watering-place, and can endure thirst for nearly a month at a time. The Arab too can supplement the usual meagre fare with an abundant crop of truffles, wild artichokes and other uncultivated plants. The Beduin, according to Sprenger, is the parasite of the camel. This picturesquely brutal phrase means that when the camel is full-fed all the Saracen people cease to be hungry! Nothing is better justified than the nomad's solicitude for this noble animal, his foster-parent, his means of transport, and his wealth in barter. The Qoran (16, 5–7) rightly regards it as a gift of Providence. Its milk, its flesh and hair furnish him with food and covering: its hide makes leather bottles and other domestic utensils, even its dung is used as fuel and its urine as a specific against malaria and lingering fevers. Nefud. It is a popular misconception to imagine Arabia as buried under a shroud of moving sands. This description applies only to certain provinces, happily not numerous, which are called the nefud. This term is unknown in the literary language, in which the nefud correspond to the Desert of Dahna.
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