Islam Question

Explain why the Qur’an is so central to the life of the Muslim.

Islam extends itself throughout the world; it does not discriminate. It exists within the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor nations, it exists simultaneously where ultra-liberal ideologies reside and amongst super-conservative dictatorships. Islam is present in all corners of the globe.

The uniting force within Islam, no matter whether one identifies as Sunni or Shia, or liberal or Sufi, is undoubtedly the Qur’an. Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the final revelation from God, known as Allah[1], to Muhammad thus superseding the Torah of Moses and the Gospels of Jesus (Crotty 2005, p.145). The word Qur’an means ‘recitation’ and the Qur’an as a book consists of 114 chapters, known as suras. Muslims assert that Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah and that the Qur’an is the preserved version of Allah’s directions to Muhammad through his ambassadors (Welch 1997, pp.164, 177).

The life of every Muslim contains five intrinsic rituals, the Pillars of Islam. The first ritual, shahada, is a public display of faith asserting that Allah is the only God and that Muhammad is God’s messenger. Both of these statements occur in the Qur’an (Welch 1997, p180). The second ritual, salat, is the earliest of all the Islamic rituals. It is a prayer given everyday, originally by Muhammad alone, but extended to the entire Islamic community in the Medinan sections of the Qur’an upon the creation of a new religious community (Welch 1997, pp.181-187). The third ritual, zakat, was fundamental in the development of an Islamic welfare system. It is a system of alms giving quite similar to a tax. The Qur’an states (2. 219/217) that the amount to be paid is your surplus (Welch 1997, pp.191-192).

The fourth ritual, fasting during the month of Ramadan is described by Welch (1997, p.192) as having its roots in a war victory in Ramadan to the Muslims. Fasting during this month is mentioned in numerous places in the Qur’an, most notably Sura 2. 185/181 and Sura 2. 187/183 (Welch 1997, p.192). The fifth ritual is a pilgrimage to the Hajj and corresponds with other rituals exercised along the journey. These rituals in full, apart from the first which is in segments, are found in the Qur’an.

These five Pillars of Islam illustrate the centrality of the Qur’an to the life of the Muslim. The Qur’an is a mirror of things past, historical events and sacred times associated with Islam such as the Muslim’s victory in Ramadan; a guide on how to conduct ones life in the present in accordance with the will of Allah; and presents insight into the future, giving certainty to the daily practices of Muslims. The Qur’an codifies the identity of the Muslim, it describes all that a Muslim is or should desire to be. The Qur’an defines and unites the Islamic community, not through a process of alterity but through quite the opposite. It is not apologetic. A passage highlighted by Crotty (2005, p.158) from the Universal Islamic Declaration, 1976 highlights this well:

Islam is a complete code of life suitable for all people and all times, and Allah’s mandate is eternal and universal and applies to every sphere of human conduct and life, without any distinction between the temporal and the spiritual.

With the influence of western ideologies and European colonial rule over many Islamic ‘nations’ in modern times many diverse and at times seemingly contradicting responses have occurred. Islamic nations have been established, many along western democratic guidelines while others advocate traditional and some times fundamental Islamic policies (Welch 1997, p.208). Some Islamic groups have dealt with this change by placing an emphasis, like Ibn-‘Adb-al-Wahhab[2], on removing any external influence upon Islam and focusing on the Fundamental principles of the Qur’an. Others, such as Muhammad ‘Abduh[3], maintained that rationalism and science were congenial with Islam and the Qur’an (Welch 1997, pp.208-213).

Islam has played witness to enormous change within the world having enormous outside pressures placed upon it at many points of history. While Islam itself has indeed modified itself to suit the beliefs, culture, and ideologies of those who follow its teachings; a Muslim, whether Sunni or Shia, or liberal or Sufi, still places the most fundamental importance of their identity and certainly their faith upon the Qur’an.

Bibliography

Crotty, R 2005, ‘Islam’, in Religion Studies: The Long Search Study Guide, University of South Australia, pp. 141-160.

Welch, AT 1997, ‘Islam’, in Hinnells, JR (ed.) 1997, The New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions, Penguin, Camberwell, pp. 162-235.

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[1] From al’ilah – ‘The God’. This became ‘Allah’ (Crotty 2005, p.141).

[2] Ibn-‘Adb-al-Wahhab was an Islamic reformer from Arabia (Welch 1997, p.210).

[3] Welch (1997, p.212) describes Muhammad ‘Abduh as a leading Egyptian modernist thinker. He died in 1905.