Twelvers, Isma`ilis, Zaydis

• Largest branch of Shi Islam
• While the hope of Muslims who sought leadership among the “people of the house” focused on the decedents of Muhammad through Ali, precision of the view later associated with the Twelver sect
• Twelver sect- that Muhammad was succeeded as the locus of religious authority by a series of Imams, beginning with Ali, followed by his sons Fatmina, and then al-Husayn’s own sons, grandsons, and later decedents
• Belief that the Mahdi ill be none other than the returned Twelve Imam that disappeared and is believed by Twelvers to be in occultation
• Twelvers share many tenets of Shi’ism with related sects, such as the belief in Imams, but Isma’ilis and Zaydis each believe in a different number of Imams and for the most part, a different path of succession regarding the Imamate  and overall definition of Imam that posed an active challenge to the identity and authority of the Islamic tradition
• Fragmentation of political power posed its most serious threat to Islamic unity

“political” vs. “religious” Shi`ism with examples of each

• Shi’ism is the second most popular group in Islam
• Uncertainty of who exactly the “family of the prophet” included
• Political shi’ism- belief that the members of the house of Hashim are the people most worthy of holding political authority in the Islamic community
• Religious- belief that particular members of the house of Hasim are in receipt of divine inspiration and are thus the channel of God’s guidance to men whether or not they hold political authority
• Who exactly do you consider Hashim? Some group say it has to be descendent of Ali’ and Fatimids and then a descendent to Hussan or Husayn- other groups said it didn’t have to be direct blood line, just generally from the house of Hashim
• Possibly early manifestations of religious Shi’ism- Hujr Ibn Adi (673)
• Husayn/Karbula (Martyr for Shi’ism)- Karbula demonstrates that while a distinctive “party” of Ali may have been crystallizing, the doctrinal form of what came to be known as Shi’ism- for example tracing a line of Imams in direct and exclusive descent from the Prophet through Ali and then through his son al-Husayn
• The tawwabun- politically active group, supports from Mecca, Medina, majority comes from Kufa- Lost battle to Umayyad in 684
• Initially political Shi groups- supporters of Mukhtar (become the Kaysaniyya) labeled “Ghuat”- led revolt, idea of an apocalypse- its time we need to take over, believe leader should be chosen on decent and qualifications
• Supporters of Zayd, grandson of Husayn (becomes Zaydi Shi)- ideal leadership should be open to any descendent of the clan of Hashim, but had to be within the bloodline. However this person would also be chosen based on their ability. Also argued that it is possible for a person to become a leader who was of lesser excellence than someone else who was around at the same time- in order to reserve the power of the first three caliphs?
• Political and religious authority are deeply connected in most discussions of them which have arisen in a Muslim context, since what we can call “political science” forms “a department of a branch of theology”

Mu`tazilites

• Practice that originates in the Quran itself
• Shi’ism relationship to the Abbasid state remained problematic and this made publically indentifying oneself as partisan of the House of Ali somewhat precarious
• It is a Shi practice in which one could conceal his or her faith if they feel threatened or potentially in danger due to their religion
• Over the ninth century Shi’ism community was forced to begin the process of developing structures of authority

• A term used in the theology of Islam to describe some minority Muslim groups who ascribe divine characteristics either to a member of Muhammad's family, generally Ali or a later Imam of the Shi'a, to an early companion of the Prophet such as Salman al-Farisi or else to a later religious leader
• The usage derives from the idea that the importance or the veneration of such a religious figure has been "exaggerated".
• The text says that we should do our best not to form negative opinions about the ghulats because the things written about them are all “biased” and written from one perspective
• Ghulat literally means, “to exaggerate” as they were known for their exaggerate beliefs about God, Ali Ibn Abi Talib and other Shi Imams
• For example, the ghulat deified Ali and believed that he was a superhuman being with miraculous powers. These beliefs were considered heretical to Sunni and later moderate Shii authorities, who considered God to be one and not incarnate in human beings.
• Ghulat beliefs still exists, but since these sects are considered heretical by orthodox Muslim authorities, they have often been persecuted
• They therefore practice in secret and often resort to concealing or even denying their true beliefs from outsiders, employing the Shi tactic of taqiyya (dissimulation, one of the terms!)
• From lecture 7:

Ghulat-

-From term meaning “exaggeration”

                    -Various groups/trends of thought

                    -Predominantly in & around Kufa

                     -Theological speculation

–Imama

–Ghayba (occultation)

–raja (return from the dead)

–transmigration of souls

–descent of God into man

–tashbih (anthropomorphism)

Shari`a (Islamic Law)

• Divine legislation

• Literally means “the way to the water hole”, but also includes the meaning of “the right path” to follow, and thus came to mean “law”
• It is also the right teaching, the right way, and the power that stands behind what is right
• For Muslims, God is the sole legislator, and jurisprudence –the science of the law- is but a system designed to facilitate human obedience and service of God
• Comprises all that might be positively called law and occupies the central place in the Islamic system of final authority and ordering principal
• Unites and guides Muslims in both time and space down through generations and across the diverse and widespread regions of Islam
• Considered to be the greatest blessings and guidance for successful individual and communal life in the world, in preparation for the afterlife

Fiqh

• Means “understanding” and fairly early came to be the main term for the “science of jurisprudence”
• As a science with classifications, method for argumentation, and techniques if application, it is a product of human intelligence and experience
• Its sources, the essence of the Shari’ a are revealed and immutable
• Human reason cannot fully penetrate the Shari’ a and it cannot question of criticize it, for it is holy
• Human intellect may be used at all level of judgement and application under Shari’ a
• This is the level of figh, of the science of the law
• After the prophets death, the Muslims turned to these sources as the most authoritative guides for the community

• sunna- body of traditional social and legal custom and practice of the Muslim community- normative practice to be emulated
• Referred to precedents set by tribal ancestors, accepted as normative, and practiced by the entire community
• Varying sources, which created differing community practices, finally reconciled by ash-Shafi who accorded the sunna of the Prophet of Muhammad, as preserved in eyewitness records of his words, known as Hadith, normative and legal status second only to that of the Qur’an
• Used in Tafsir to supplement meaning of text
• Sunna refers to sayings and living habits of Muhammad- meaning an exemplary mode of conduct
• Includes his specific words, habits, practices, and silent approvals
• Significant to spirituality of Islam because it addresses the ways of living dealing with friends, family, and gov’t
• The Prophets Sunna constituted an authoritative source that cannot be doubted, but the status as an exclusive sunna-based authority emerged later

The sunna was embedded in the legal reason of practice and, like that of Medina, it did not always need to be identified as Prophetic. It was nearly always understood to have emanated from the Prophetic past.

• Early Muslim jurists also exercised personal opinion, known as ra’y
• No systemized legal procedure until relatively late in development of Islam’s classical institutions
• So during early generations legal thinking and decision making were carried out in an diverse and flexible atmosphere
• Qur’an was the main authority, but gradually Hadith gained wide currency and influence- local custom also appropriated as part of Islamic law
• Developing Islamic legal system was tolerant and accommodating on practical levels
• This is not to say the Qur’an was compromised, but it is to acknowledge that the community’s needs far exceeded the limited and often quite general commands of the Qur’an
• It provides no clear, consistent method for its own use and doesn’t touch upon many areas of human life
• But the Qur’an united Muslims and prevented any irretrievable deviations from developing even in a varied legal environment

Sunnaic practice

• The Sunni scholars came together to evaluate the hadiths (the narrations/ interpretations of the Quran) to determine if they were viable or not
• The groups agreement is what developed the consensus in authority of the ijma
• At times this agreement was invoked to sanction the authenticity of a hadith that supported a particular doctrine of sunnaic practice
• Deeming consensual sunnaic practice to be determinative of which hadiths were credible and which were not, this practice raised in effect to the first source of law, save perhaps for the Q
• The decision on the passages was final
• Any questioning would undermine the authority of the group
• After the great synthesis, when Prophetic hadith asserted itself as a competitor to ra’y loyalty to the sunnaic practice diminished
• A universally transmitted hadith from the Prophet proved more appealing as a material and textual source of the law than the living, sunnaic practice as defined by a specific city or legal community, since the latter had developed their own judicial and juristic peculiarities in keeping with their own particular environment. Prophetic hadith was free of these peculiarities, and was, as a textual entity, more amenable to use in new environments.

• Even the Sunna did not provide all that the Muslims needed for specific legislation and legal guidance
• Created a practice of analogical reasoning known as qiyas
• Third source of law, developed from ra’y, but logically stricter and productive of a far narrower range of possible conclusions
• When Qur’an nor the Hadith could revolve, attempt to find analogous situation clear in which a determination had already been made
• Finally accepted in some form by most law schools, relating what Muhammad asked Mu’adh b. Jabal when he sent him to Yemen to be a qadi
• Developed after the death of Muhammad when the Islamic world began coming in contact with societies outside the Quran.  It is the process of using deductive analogy when comparing the Hadiths to the Quran in order to create new injunctions to deal with the circumstances affecting the separated communities.  Combined with the Quran and Sunna (practices of community) became sources for the Islamic jurisprudence (study of Islamic Law).  It was a way to tie the Islamic societies together.   

• Significance: without the Great synthesis, no legal theory (no sunnism) could have emerged (Hallaq, 56)
• Whereas a few jurists of the second/eight century were seen as traditionalists (and many of these acquired such descriptions posthumously, decades after the century came to a close), the third/ninth century produced more traditionalists than rationalists, and they were clearly identified as such. It is also significant that, during this century, migration (or conversion from the rationalist to the traditionalist camp was frequent, whereas movement in the opposite direction was rare to non-existent. While we are unable to unearth examples of conversion to the rationalist camp from this century, the sources tell of such movement for the preceding century. (Hallaq 58)
• …Muslim historian and biographies of jurists flourishing during that period make it a point to mention this synthesis…A century later, only a few are described as exclusives belonging to one camp or the other…
• The traditionalism of Ibn Hanbal was seen as too austere and rigid, and the rationalism of Mu’tazila and their supporters as too libertarian. When Ibn Hanbal and the traditionalists won the Mihna, moreover, they did not prevail on account of their interpretive stand, nor by virtue of their doctrinal and intellectual strength. Rather, their victory was due in part to the weakening of pronounced rationalism and in part to the withdrawal of political support from a stance that was becoming unpopular. Hence, the limited success of the traditionalists was largely a function of the weakness of the rationalists. Indeed, the conflict represented by the Mihna meant that extreme forms of traditionalism and rationalism did not appeal to the majority of Muslims. It was the mid-point between the two movements that consititued the normative position of the majority; and it was from this centrist position that Sunnism, the religion and legal ideology of the majority of Mulsims, was to emerge” (Hallaq, 57)
• By the beginning of the fourth/tenth century, the majority had come to embrace the synthesis between rationalism and traditionalism. It was with this development that legal theory (usul al-figh) was at last defined. Expressed differently, though somewhat tautologically, legal theory emerged as a result of this synthesis (not because one or the other failed, but because they REDEFINED the two and put it together: there’s more about this in the article), which itself embodied, and was reflected by this theory  (Hallq, 59).

• Means “to exercise” one’s intellect, independent legal reasoning in search of one’s opinion
• Contains a sense of exertion, even struggle, including holy war if necessary
• Used interchangeably with qiyas, but more general, including within its purview other forms of legal reasoning
• One who exercises ijtihad is known as mujtahid
• Served as main method in the elaboration of Islamic law in early centuries, as time went on the Muslims tended more and more to imitate and accept authority what their predecessors had to struggle to achieve
• Led to Taqlid, “imitation” and acceptance on authority, without engaging in original ijtihad

usul al-fiqh

• The study of the origins, sources, and principles upon which Islamic jurisprudence (or Fiqh) is based. In the narrow sense, it simply refers to the question of what are the sources of Islamic law. In an extended sense, it includes the study of the philosophical rationale of the law and the procedures by which the law applicable to particular cases is derived from the sources.
• Emerged as a result of the Great synthesis, which was not a defeat of rationalism or the absolute victory of traditionalism that under pinned the emergence of this, but rather a redefinition and methodical disciplining of the former and the rise and dramatic increase of the latter.
• Not the product of an ongoing process, was largely a product of the specific historical process that began a century earlier, and culminated under Synthesis.
• The four major sources: In classical Sunni Islam, there are four major sources of jurisprudence: the Qur'an, the Sunnah, ijma' (consensus), and qiyas (analogy).
• There is some dispute amongst the Sunni jurists regarding ijma' and qiyas. The Zahirites in particular reject all forms of qiyas and only accept ijma' al-sahaba (consensus of the companions).

• The contribution of al-Shafi'I-Abu 'Abd Allah al-Shafi'i (767-819) documented a systematized form of usul, developing a cohesive, systematic procedure for legal reasoning. His approach contrasted with the Hanafite methodology that determined the sources from the sayings and rulings of the companions and successors. Furthermore, he raised the Sunnah to a place of prominence and restricted its legal use. According to al-Shafi'i, only practices directly passed down from Muhammad were valid, eliminating the legitimacy of practices of Muhammad's followers. Prior to al-Shafi'i, legal reasoning included personal reasoning thus suffering from inconsistency. al-Shafi'i is probably best known for writing Al-Risala, a prime example of applying logic and order to Islamic jurisprudence.
• Shi'a law-In Shia Islam qiyas is not recognised as a source of law. There are two interpretations of what this entails. According to the Akhbari view, the only sources of law are the Quran and the Hadith, and any case not explicitly covered by one of these must be regarded as not having been provided for.
• According to the majority Usuliview, it is legitimate to seek general principles by induction, in order to provide for cases not expressly provided for. This process is known as ijtihad, and 'Aql (reason) is recognized as a source of law. It differs from the Sunni qiyas in that it does not simply extend existing laws on a test of factual resemblance: it is necessary to formulate a general principle that can be rationally supported.
• In doubtful cases the law is often derived not from substantive principles induced from existing rules, but from procedural presumptions (usul 'amaliyyah) concerning factual probability. An example is the presumption of continuity: if one knows that a given state of affairs, such as ritual purity, existed at some point in the past but one has no evidence one way or the other whether it exists now, one can presume that the situation has not changed.

ijma`“the way of the umma”

• Fourth and final source of figh “consensus of the community”
• The strongest and most pervasive of the four sources of law, because it determines how or whether the other three will be used
• Consensus that is regarded as authoritative is not the consensus of the Muslims as a whole, but of those learned and whose opinions are respected and accepted
• Powerful force for conformity and gradually dominated Islamic jurisprudence among the Sunnis, for whom it provided stability and constant source of authentication
• Doctrine characteristically Islamic and reflects the tradition’s preoccupation with the community, the umma, as a social, political, cultural, and above all, spiritual reality

rationalist vs. traditionalist

• In the beginning of Islam, the Quran and the Sunna were the ultimate source of Islamic thought on all aspects of human life. Just as fiqh was deeply rooted in, and based on the two legal sources, the Qur’an and the Sunnah, theology too was based on the very same sources without any external influence. This approach was represented by the bulk of the Prophet’s Companions and their successors, who formed to constitute what we know and refer to today as: traditionalism.
• The Mu’tazili movement marked the emergence of the rationalist movement in Islam for their use of Greek Philosophy, which became known amongst the Salaf as ‘Ilm al-Kalam, and received violent attacks. Thus, there appeared two main theological camps amongst the Muslims, the traditionalist camp that represented the Salafi school, and the rationalist camp that represented advocates of Greek philosophy and rationalism.
• The rationalist movement received fierce criticisms from the Salaf for its disregard for the traditions in favour of reason. The movement, however, spearheaded by the Mu’tazilites, did eventually rise to power for two main reasons:
  
  1) They managed to gain acceptance and legitimacy for themselves by adhering to the Hanafi school in fiqh, and thereby, acquiring official posts as judges in Islamic courts. It was much easier for them to join the Hanafi school than the rest due to the school’s inclination to rationalism; whereas the rest of the scholars were ardent followers of the Ahl al-Hadeeth movement, who were always at odds with the Ahl al-Ra’y for their vigorous use of Qiyas, making it impossible for the Mu’tazilites to infiltrate their ranks. It is noteworthy that even amongst the Hanafi school, despite of their struggle, the Mu’tazilites did not receive approval.
  
  2) Their good connections with the ruling ‘Abbasid Caliphate always placed them in a favourable position. For instance, the Mu’tazilite leader, ‘Amr b. ‘Ubayd was a close friend of the ‘Abbasid Caliph Abu Ja’far al-Mansur; Abul-Hudhayl al-‘Allaf was the teacher of the Caliph Ma’mun who instigated the period of Mihna of the creation of the Quran against Ahl al-Sunnah; al-Nadham had good relationship with Muhammad b. ‘Ali, one of the ministers under the ‘Abbasid Caliphate; and finally, Ahmad b. Abi Du’ad, the Hanafite jurist was a supreme judge for Caliph al-Mu’tasim.
  A brief look at history helps us define orthodoxy and further identify who have more right to lay claim to orthodoxy, and whether or not Ash’arite claim to orthodoxy has any weight.

o   The Great synthesis emerged out of the traditional and rational movements

o   The traditionalist movement opposed rationalism, including its method of qiyas. The inquisition, pursued by the caliphs and rationalist scholars was about whether or not the Quran was created, but perhaps even more about the role of human reason in interpreting the divine texts. The final defeat of the rationalists implied an acknowledgment that human reason could not stand on its own as a central, but much less exclusive, method of interpretation but had rather to operate solely, in the final analysis, in the service of revelation (Hallaq, 57).

o    “If conflict between them was about anything fundamental, it was, at the end of the day, about interpretation” (57).

qadi 

• The individuals that served as judges starting in Muhammad’s time.
• They developed and applied principals and rulings to secular and religious legal matters- this attitude was to become standard policy and law throughout the rest of Islam
• Ideal requirements for being a qadi are stringent and include having a blameless character and life, being a male adult Muslim, possessing a thorough grounding in legal sciences, and even having ability to act as a mujtahid
• They were used across all Islamic regions to make sure all citizens and rulers were abiding by the same rules
• Last requirement was rendered void when the “gate of ijtihad” was considered closed

Legal decisions made by means of close adherence to precedent, with no independent decision making necessary

o   A Muslim school of law or fiqh (religious jurisprudence). In the first 150 years of Islam, there were many such "schools".

o   Hallaq: Concurrently with the emergence of the Great Synthesis, and not entirely dissociated from it, a fourth and final development had taken place, bringing Islamic law to full maturity, or, to put it differently, to the end of the formative period. This development was represented by the full emergence of the doctrinal legal schools, the madhhabs, a cardinal evolution that in turn presupposed the rise of various systemic, juristic, educational and judicial elements.

o   Two stages of development preceded and paved the way for the rise of the doctrinal schools: the first was the stage of the study circles and the second the stage of the personal schools.

o   Generally, the term madhhab means that which is followed and, more specifically, the opinion or idea that one chooses to adopt; hence a particular opinion of a jurist.

o   (I’m not sure if we need to go into specifics for these, but they’re in the Hallaq packet on page 61) There are four meanings that have emerged out of madhhab which contributed to, or reflected, the formation of schools. The first of these was the technical meaning of the term as a principle underlying a set of cases subsumed under such a principle. The second meaning of madhhab represents a combination of the basic meaning outlined above and the first technical meaning, namely, a principle underlying a group of derivative cases, as exemplified in the case of damages…The third sense of madhhab referred to the mujthahid’s individual opinion when this enjoys the highest authority in the collective doctrinal corpus of the school, irrespective of whether or not this mujahid was the school’s so called founder…main point: its general and widespread acceptance in practice, as refelected in the courts and fatwa’s…Finally, the term madhhab refers to a group of jurists and legists who are loyal to a distinct, integral and most importantly, collective legal doctrine attributed to an eponym, a master-jurist, so to speak, from whom the school is known to have acquired particular, distinctive characteristics. Thus, after the formation of schools, jurists began to be characterized as Hafite, Malikite, Shafi’ite or hanbalite, as determined by their doctrinal loyalty to one school or another.

o   Thus, whereas in other culture the ruling dynasty promulgated the law, enforced it and constituted the locus of legal authory, in Islam it was the doctrinal madhhab that produced the law and afforded its axis of authority. In other words, legal authority resided in the collective, juristic doctrinal enterprise of the school, not in the ruler or in the doctrine of a single jurist. (Hallaq)

• Acts of Islamic law recognizes and that appear in books of figh
• 1.  Fard or wajib: duties and acts that are required of all Muslims and whose performance is rewarded and whose omission is punished (ex: prayer, almsgiving, fasting)
• 2. Sunna, masnun, mandub, or mustahabb: duties and acts that are recommended but not required, performance rewarded but omission not punished
• 3.  Jaiz or mubah- indifference actions, whose performance or ommision is neither rewards nor punished
• 4.  Makruh- actions that are disapproved but not punished or forbidden
• 5.  Haram: actions that are both forbidden and punished (ex: drinking wine)
• both legal and ethnical, show a broad range of shadings in human activities and leave some room for flexibility
• example: what some condemn as forbidden (haram) others might hold ot be merely almost illegal, and thus makruh

stages of legal development

• In the case of Islamic law, the essential attributes—those that gave it its shape –were four:

o   Stage 1 (622-32) Prophets life time

§  Who? Muhammad the prophet

§  Sources: God, Constitution of Medina, tribal customs, Sunna- “just leaders” Muhammad (precedent, the way things have been done in a certain place)

§  Sunnaic practice: ijma’ consesnsus

o   Stage 2 (632-80) Conquests

§  Who’s issuing laws? Quadis, caliphs

§  Sources? Qur’an, Prophet/Sunna (still one among many difference sources), custom/sunna, just leaders

§  Caliphs policy on legal

o   Stage 3 (680-820) Halagas (study circles); personal

§  Who? “learned men of the cities” halagas

§  Sources? Qur’an and Sunna

§  Hadith/Akhbar: people start going from place to place 

·         Study particular legal situations

§  “Hanfash”

§  cant have people loosely using own opinions, must have something concrete

o   Stage 4

1) The evolution of a complete judiciary, with a full fledged court system and law of evidence and procedure

2) The full elaboration of a positive legal doctrine

3) The full emergence of a science of legal methodology and interpretation which reflected, among other things, a large measure of hermeneutical, intellectual and juristic self-consciousness and

4) The full emergence of the doctrinal legal schools, a cardinal development that in turn presupposed the emergence of various systemic, juristic, educational and practice-based elements

Hanifa

• The most popular of the 4 Islamic schools
•  Believes Islams are relatives of Abraham
•  It was based off the teachings of Abu Hanifah, who was one of the most gifted and liberal of the Islamic legalists
• Ra’y was prominent in the school’s method, but over the years madhhab became more restrictive in it’s use
• Qiyas as a sophisticated method of reaching legal judgement was pioneered by Hanifa, who refused to accept an appointment as a qadi
• This school not only focused on the Quran but also focused on the Quadiths
• It allows for the taking of strict Islamic rules and beliefs and adapting them to current situations.
• Today the Hanafis madhhad is dominant in Central and Western Asia, lower Egypt, and Indian subcontinent

Malik

• second school surviving that is founded in Medina and the Hejez by Malik idn Anas (795)
• he was a great collector of hadiths but even more a supported of the living tradition of Medina
• Medina was the earliest center of Islamic law and government, which was thereby steeped in prestige and authoritative precedent malik’s great book, Al-Muwatta “the beaten path”- is a influential compilation of his opinions and judgments
• Malik madhhab prominent today in North Africa and Upper Egypt

al-Shafi`i

• Third great madhhan, founded by Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i
• Developed main principals of Islamic jurisprudence and systematized them into a coherent unity
• Greatest contribution was in the distinguishing and preferring of prophetic hadith from the living tradition of Medina
• Prophets prestige and authority rising ever higher and being second only to the Qur’an in theory and in some cases higher
• Refined even further the use of qiyas, which he rather severely curtailed, in comparison with the freer employment of it by the Hanafis
• Defined ijma in its classical form and invested it with the power that enabled it to oust ijtihad from jurisprudence
• Ijma extended even to the authentication of hadith and it is in this context that the fateful hadith attributed to the Prophet takes on meaning

Hanbal

• fourth and last of Sunni schools founded by Ahmad Hanbal, who carried al-Shafi’I’s enthusiasm for and truth in Hadith
• extremely conservative and combative religious thinker and leader of deeply Qur’anic and hadith convictions

meaning of the Qur’an as mentioned in Denny, Ch 6 (spiritual significance, emotional significance, popular uses)

• Means “recitation”, which refers to individual passages as well as to their collection in the book that Muslims possess
• Spiritual Significance- in relation to Christianity may be usefully compared to Christ, in that it is believed to be God’s Word that miraculously come down into the world in history and humankind
• The book is properly appropriated and applied only when it is recited live in a context of belief and obedience
• Sacramental quality to recitation of the Qur’an, in that God’s presence is made apparent and all else is hushed before it (Muslims don’t have sacraments, in the Christian sense, but for rough comparisons only and shouldn’t be applied strictly to Islam)
• Reciting the sacred words is itself a participation in God’s speech
• Emotional Significance- very powerful and pervasive when recited in Muslim environment, which is made apparent when one leaves the Islamic environment
• Recitiation of the Qur’an and the five daily alls to prayer punctuate and regulate the Muslims day and are missed when they are absent
• Anyone can participate in Qur’an daily recitation, not just those in clerical orders- highly democratic affair
• Popular Uses- beyond recitation in prayer and devotion also used as protective device against evil spirits and influences
• Last two suras called “the Two Charms” used to ward off evil of sorcerers and witches
• Rituals of Muslims social relations include phrases and expressions minded from the Qur’an

Role of reciters

• Language of the Qur’an is pure Arabic
• Concern for sounds, as in recitation, and its meanings, as in tafsir
• All work together to bring the believes to the state of wondrous gratitude that is at the center of iman
• Tafsir methodology and sources SEE ME

Comparison with Jesus

• Qur’an maybe useful when compared with Christ, in that it is believed to be God’s word that has miraculously come down into the world in history and humankind but by different means in the two traditions
• Christians can have Jesus by means of devotion to him in a variety of ways, Muslims cannot command the Qur’an to come into their heart, but there is nevertheless a person appropriation of the Qur’an’s power and meaning through the Muslims prayerful and observant study
• In Christian Eucharist the Lord is symbolically eaten in bread and wine, in Qur’an recitation, there is real presence, also, as God’s words and their power penetrate the consciousness of the listeners
• If in Christianity the “world became flesh”, in Islam it became a book
• And the book is properly appropriated and applied only when it is recited live in a context of belief and obedience.
• There is almost a sacramental quality to the recitation of the Qur’an, in that God’s prescience is made apparent.
• Islam doesn’t have sacraments, in the Christian sense, and that term is for comparison and shouldn’t be applied
• Even the traditional definition of Christian sacrament that it is an “outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace” doesn’t fit the Qur’anic text
• This distinction is necessary because the reciting of the sacred words it itself a participation in Gods speech
• This is why is has to be performed perfect, orthoprax recitation thus serves in the matter in which the Qur’an is received, enjoyed, and transmitted.

• Both of these terms have to do with the reading and understanding of Quran
• Tafsir is referred to as reading the Quran, in explanation and interpretation, and is referred to once in Qur’an
• Tawil also refers to the explanation and interpretation of the Quran, however it explores symbolic and inner meanings
• Sufis become deeply involved in ta’wil and in fact incorporated it into their overall approach to God- always a hidden and higher meaning; Shi’I as well
• Tafsir has come to represent both the entire field of the Qur’an interpretation, as a genetic category, and the actual operation of examining the plain text: its language, grammar, expression, ect.
• The findings are not open to serious debate, but at the level of Ta’wil sectarian issues may affect interpretation of passages

asbab al-nuzul

• A secondary genre of the Quran
• It attempts to interpret the occasions of the revelations
• It gives context to specific verses in the Quran that explains them through general situations more than specific events
•  It attempts to give understanding of why God revealed the Quran to Muhammad and he applied them once he received them 

Technical vs. speculative interpretation (chapter 6 Denny)

o   Technical (tafsir ma’thur): contains the main heritage of information and perspectives. It has continued to this day as the center of the science. Text based- traditional Sunni.

o   Speculative (tafsir bi al-ra’y): interpretation based on individual rational judgment, preferred by the more freethinking Muslims. It emphasizes theological issues and is, because of this preoccupation, more akin to Christian exegesis of the “biblical theology” genre. Because of its predilection for rational analysis and speculation, it has frequently been attacked by the orthodox as too freewheeling and subjective. Non-text-based Mu’tazilite and philosophical.

free will and predestination

• Key issue: acknowledging the mystery of human virtues and vices within the complexities of human life
• Kharijites: considered humans to be free agents, responsible for their acts and thus deserving of their fates, whether to be rewarded with heaven or damned to hell
• Free-will position generally anti-Umayyad on political level
• The upholders of freewill became known as Qadaries including the sense of capacity to determine events
• Freewill like predestination can be justified on basis of Qur’an, was developed for moral and religious reasons
• Predestination pro-Umayyad and stated god had decreed that the Damascus based caliphs should rule as protectors of Islam
• Became known as Jabarities meaning “compulsion” God’s total power and initiative the management of all things and events
• Asharites- everything is predestined by God, but we still have free will because we have to go through steps and acquire acts that lead us to eventual faith that is determined
• Majority of Muslims came to hold position that was more predestination than free will, and the Murji’ites themselves were far from asserting human capacity when measured against God’s might

the anthropomorphism of God

• Refers the general idea of God taking on human shape or showing human qualities in numerous different forms
• It has many criticisms within numerous religions as though God would not take the form of a human as he is above and the creator of mankind
• Mu’tazilites came regard such passages as metaphorical, intended for human imaginations in a scripture sent to guide and correct
• Feared God’s unity would be compromised
• Sought to avoid Christian trinity

• Issue: Mu’tazilites though was whether the Qur’an created in time or is it internal?
• Mu’tazilites defended that the doctrine of the Qur’an having been created in time, lest the Muslims begin holding up two separate divine realities: God and his Word
• Sunni: Qur’an indeed eternal and perfect in every respect as God’s speech- this view won out after bitter political and theological stuggle
• Ibn Hanbal refused to uphold the eternal Qur’an doctrine that somewhat resembles the Christian doctrine
• Mu’tazilites guardians of what they considered to be true Islam, unity requires correct acts and correct thinking
• After gods unity-unification they emphasized his justice, and here is where they received most criticism, for reasons that must be understood if one is to have any grasp of Islamic theology

Dhikr

• Meaning “remembrance,” “mentioning” God and its verbal form occur frequently in the Qur’an and have special meaning for Sufis

• “Mention God often” interpreted by Sufi’s both literally and symbolically, so that the constant remembering of God through recitation of the Qur’an, praise, and prayer came to constitute a distinctive pattern of spiritual discipline known as dhikr
• Variety of forms, some musical and ecstatic, others quiet and inward
• Can be done individually, but in some Sufi orders it is instituted as a ceremonial activity
• In Islamic mysticism dhikr is the most frequent form of prayer
• Muhammad said that there is no God but God and to praise God respectively
• In earlier orders the “presence” referred to was that of God, but since 18^th century it has been considered spiritual presence of Muhammad

mi’raj

• Meaning ascension to God
• All Muslims venerate the Prophet and the cultivation of his Sunna
• Muhammad as a guide to the right way to God is seen in the conviction that whenever a Muslims raises up the salat, he or she is making personal mi’raj, just as the prophet
• Special character of Muhammad’s guidance is discerned in the doctrines of the “Muhammadan light”
• Sufi’s have been influential in extending the role and symbolism of Muhammad to that of universal human, the model for authentic existence in union with God

Hasan of Basra

• Best known among early Sufi’s for ascetism and general distrust of sensual world
• Theologian and a famous preacher who’s sermons affected many in Basra
• Lived in fear of God’s judgement
• He warned his fellow believers to avoid dealing with rulers, to keep a safe distance from women and not to listen to what others say in conducting life
• Powerful witness to the saintly life of reverent fear and world renunciation
• Nothing he did or taught was suspect in the eyes of other observant, pious Muslims or Qur’anic grounding, which raises issue of Sufism as heterodox
• Major contribution to development of kalam and maintained balance btw speculative issues and questions of personal piety
• All Sufi’s looked back to him as hero, a trailblazer of religious life and inspiration for all Muslims

Rabi`a

• She was a female Sufi Saint that lives from 717-801 C.E
• Best known for her work of her philosophy of Divine Love, and is strongly considered the most important of the early Sufi poets
• Introduced emphasis on love, and this became ever after a characteristic of Sufism in all its forms
• She has had apparent dreams in which the prophet of Muhammad has visited her
• From a young age it seemed as though she had a divine interest between Islam, many legends linking her to Hasan of Basra

While he was very fearful, she was bold in her approach

Ibn al-Farid

• Arab poet that was born in Cairo
• His poetry is considered the pinnacle of the Arabic mystical verses however he not widely known in the West
• His poetry gives insight into the spiritual experience that comes along the Sufi way of life- the vision of unity of being centered in the absolute oneness of God
• To present day these poems are still widely discussed and memorized for Sufi ands devout Muslims

• Is literally the path to God
• It is a school in Sufism
• It means the inner way, beyond adherence to the Shari’a
• Shari’a and Tariga are the same as tafsir and tawil, the two should be balanced and mutually complementary
• Sufis began to identify themselves through the way they followed God
• They performed rituals/initiation for new members involving a khirqa (cloak) that is tethered and rough to represent the adepts embrace of of material poverty in favor of spiritual authority
• Tariqa has a murshid (guide) who plays the role of leader or spiritual director of the organization

Sober Sufism

• Junayd was the master of religious sciences of the day, for if God really does revel his will and provide quidance in the externals of the Qur’an and Sunna, then the Muslims already has all that earth and heaven can embrace, and there is no need to leave the common ground of Muslim faith and practice

• Sobriety is associated with awe (haybah), the sense that God is majestic, mighty, wrathful, and distant, far beyond the petty concerns of human beings
• God's distance and aloofness allow for a clear view of the difference between servant and Lord, but his nearness blinds the discerning powers of reason
• Perfect vision of the nature of things necessitates a balance between reason and imaginal unveiling

Antinomian Sufism

• The belief that laws no longer apply to you and rejection of Shari’a
•  Faith alone is enough to receive salvation
• 10th-century Sufi mystic Mansur Al-Hallaj was executed for shirk, he claimed he was God which went against the promise to believe there was only One God
• Any innovation or disbelief in the Quran would also be considered antinomian

Intoxicated Sufism

• Intoxication is to be overcome by the presence of God and to lose one's ability to discriminate among creatures
• Abu Yazid adopted the ascesion of Muhammad as a central theme in his quest
• Al-Hallaj martyr for his convictions
• It is associated with intimacy (uns), the sense of God's loving nearness, and this in turn is connected with the divine names that express God's love and compassion
• Drunken expressions of Sufism predominate in poetry, which is ideally suited to descriptions of the imaginal realm of unveiled knowledge
• Associated with love, spiritual vision, compassion

Al-Ghazali

• Persian intellectual best known for his work in Islamic theology and philosophy
• He is best known for his work as a Sufi mystic
• He is considered the pioneer of methodic doubt and skepticism
• He alone through his writing changed the course of Islamic philosophy, known as occasionalism
• Brought orthodox Islam of his time in close contact with Sufism
• He combined fundamental Islamic themes of religion in his thought, teaching, writings- forged new synthesis
• Was the soberest of Sufis and did much to present the Tariqa as normative Islam
• Orthodox theologians still when their own way, and so did the mystics, but both developed a sense of mutual appreciation which ensured that no sweeping condemnation could be made by one for the practices of the other

Silsila

• Arabic word meaning genealogy or used to describe lineage
• Sufi orders trace their chains of authority back to the Prophet through Ali ibn Abi Talib- did not have any sectarian significance given the widespread veneration of the Prophets family among Sunnis as well as Shi
• In such context, these spiritual lineages came to serve in a precisely parallel functional manner to the isnads that scholars attached to hadiths, attesting to authenticity
• Silsila linked Sufis in a living bond with the past and in a real sense with the future generation
• A kind of spiritual grafting took place that ensured the continuity of doctrine and correct discipline in each tariqa

Rumi and his poetry (Denny ch 11)

• Rumi composed thousands of rhymed couplets in Persian; collected in an epic work and called Mathnawi
• Considered himself a flute through which Husam al-Din played the sad music of the soul
• God’s purposes are worked out on the level of temporal, earthly existence in real lives that must respond freely to what has happened to them. This is a paradoxical state of affairs. But Rumi could see some sort of necessity at work in the troubled life he himself lived, with his beloved coming intermittently to him in the forms of Shams. Rumi glimpses of the divine beloved were sufficient to sustain a celebration of God’s works at all levels of his creation in the purest poetry possible.
• Rumi had that rare genius that enabled him to transcend such conditions because of the penetration of his thought and the poetic expression that he developed from study and meditation
• Held the feminine principle in high esteem as symbolic of God’s love and beauty
• At the core of Rumi’s thought was his conviction that God was both hidden and revealed; that is, he was beyond his creation and, at the same time—paradoxically—immanent in the world of appearances. It is mainly through the Au’ran that God has revealed himself
• The Mathnawi can be read as an extended and illustrated commentary on the Qur’an…it goes beyond the scriptural text and weaves folklore and traditional tales, as well as neo-platonic, biblical, and Christian ideas, into a tapestry of mature Sufi thought. Rumi was not a systematic or academic thinker or poet; his work poured fourth from him more often in ecstatic exuberance that in reflective composition. He is reported to have been a joyful person who wanted always to share his sense of God’s love with all around him.
• His message is a message for all seasons of human life. Even the modern religious skeptic or agnostic must be moved to reflection by his poem

He was a thirteenth century poet, jurist, theologian and Sufi mystic from Persia. Was the first of the Mawlawi Sufi order, as many people followed it in his death in 1273. His poetry to some has been regarded as the Persian Quran for much of the Sufi order. It is considered one of the greatest works of mysticical poetry.

Three forms of dhikr

The principle of dhikr is that it brings together God and the believer and works to purify the worshiper of all that is bad.

o   1) dhikr al-awqat, the set dhikrs of each day, following at least two of the obligatory salats: This dhikr is regulated by one’s master, who gives permission for it and prescribes its specifics.

o   2) dhikr al-khafi, a personal recollection under the guidance of one’s shaykh-This type of dhikr emphasized breath control and becomes quite elaborate in some tariqas, requiring long periods of solitary practice to master.

o   3) dhikr al-hadra, the dhikr of presence, a communal, shared type-The presence is that of the prophet, who in later development of tariqa Sufism was increasingly featured as the supreme guide and active participant. This group often becomes elaborate and thrilling to hear and participate in; warm feelings of love and brotherhood are generated when a large congregation chants beautiful odes to the prophet (Allah) This is the special time of the dhikr, and the subjective experiences is that of feeling very close to God. Sometimes spontaneity is released that carries along the assembly.

Sunni “revival” vs. “re-centering”

• According to the Sunni “revival” view, militantly Sunni regimes such as that of the Saljuqs responded to challenge of shi’I century by reviving Sunni identity and claims to dominance
• On a political level, for example, the Saljuq seizure of power in Baghdad was not restoration of pre-Buyid political patterns
• It is true that the Buyid amir, who replaced the Saljuds were shi’is but their power had been declining for some time
• Moreover, relations btw them and the Abbasid caliphs, still the symbol of Sunni legitimacy were often cordial
• Extreme important developments that shaped the character that Sunni Islam would carry in modern period- and “re-centering” more accurate

• Outsider regimes something NEW
• Not just Sunni response to the “Shi’I century” but also greater homogenization of religious life within Sunni Islam
• Threat posed by Christianity (Berkey ch 20)- “moral rearmament” in wake of challenges such as Crusades which drew on the language and enthusiasm of Muslims response that articulated more precisely what it meant to be a Sunni Muslim
• The history of Sunni Islam in middle period is not so much one of new developments as it is one which brought sharper resolution to identities and principals which had crystallized earlier

the “Shi`i century”

• That period btw the mid-tenth and mid-eleventh centuries when much of Muslim world was dominated by Shi regimes (Fatimids, the Buyids) of varying stripes
• Fatimids- began in Tunis 909, by 969 conquered Egypt and established Cairo
• “Rejected the authority of the Abbasid caliphate”
• Buyids (Twelver Shi)- ruled Baghdad (945-1055), possible link with early Zaydi group 
• “Acknowledged Abbasid caliphate”
• Saljuqs (Sunni converts) conquered Baghdad 1055, 2^nd leader Toghril Beg crowned Sultan and was able to establish some stability
• Many ways from 945-1055 it had proved conclusively that the idea of a single unitary caliphate controlling the entire Islamic world was not realistic
• Three different caliphates had competed for universal acknowledgement but none had achieved more than religious or political authority 

Sunni traditionalism

• Hanabalism, not recognized as legal school but social movement with a conservative, traditionalist orientation played an imp. Role
• Once mihna had been suspended, aligned closely with Assasid caliphs
• Traditionalism propounded by al-Qadir and many ulama wielded considerable force, intellectual, social, and political
• Fractured and complex political background- and for all their efforts the caliphs were no longer the only source of political power so their traditionalism had challengers such as Nizam al-Mulk
• One of characteristic features of Middle Period is Baghdad grew less important as a center of Muslim and religious life
• As a result, tradionalism was only on aspect, of a broader process of homogenizing Sunni religious life during this era

khilaf (disagreement)

• When jurists differed over given legal question of opinion there was disagreement

• The tradition recognized a diversity of opinion and practice
• But once the jurist of a given madhhab had agreed through consensus on a given point, it was taken as binding on those who followed

In this way the doctrine of ijma served to reinforce the growning social and cultural authority of the ulama, the educated religious elite

political fragmentation

• Legal scholars argued over whether, and how much, to use reason in deducing legal rulings. Some, like Ibn Hanbal, thought that reason should not be used at all, and that one should only refer to the Qur'an and the hadith, possibly using qiyas as a distant third. Hanifa, on the other hand, used reason (ra'y) liberally in his jurisprudence. These differing trends of thought led to a divide between "the people of reason" (ahl al-ra'y, or "rationalists") and the "people of hadith" (ahl al-hadith, or "traditionalists").
• Similarly, such a divide exists in school of theological and exegetical thought. Ibn Hanbal was also pitted against the Mu`tazilites, who advocated reason as THE basis of seeking to understand God's will. In interpreting the Qur'an, the school that Denny calls "Technical" believes that any valid interpretation MUST be based on another sacred text, either another Qur'an aya, or a hadith, while the "Speculative" school allows the sole use of one's reason to interpret the Qur'an
• Even though the work of Shafi`i did much to unify these schools in the realm of jurisprudence (and you should know how and why!), the divide between reason and traditionalism (and this is not "tradition" in the sense of "it's our tradition to celebrate the winter solstice every year by going sledding at night," but tradition in the sense of emphasizing the traditions of the Prophet (= hadith) in all of the religious sciences.
• Omar Khayyam comes onto the scene while this debate is still raging, and at a time, and in a place where traditionalism is winning out. This is where Berkey comes in. He describes, and we talked about in class, the Sunni "revival" or "re-centering" in which Sunni regimes such as the Seljuqs (which Malik Shah was the ruler of during Khayyam's stint as the official court astronomer) attempted to reinforce, reemphasize, and in some ways redefine Sunni values, beliefs, and practice. This was in part to ward off real and perceived threats coming from the growing Sufi turuq (brotherhoods), those of the rationalist camps in the religious sciences, and the various Shi`i groups who either didn't recognize the Sunni caliphate (Fatimids), or actively fought against it (Hasan-i Sabbah's Nizari Isma`ili Shi`is).

Fatimids

• Missionaries became established in many parts of the Islamic empire, preaching a doctrine of revolution against the Sunni order and the Abbsid state
• Their goal was to win allegiances with people and rules in Syria and Iraq (ruled in Eygpt) which remained under Abbasid orbit
•  In 1059 succeeded by having khutba read in the name of the Isma ili Imam
•  However in 1060, struck with famine, military insubordination, and administrative chaos
•  The last Fatmid Caliph was released in 1171
•  In 1188 after saladins coup, q group of Shiis rebelled in Cairo for the restoration of Fatimid state. 

Buyids

• Shia religious group
• The first several decades of the Buyid confederation were characterized by large territorial gains
• In addition to Fars and Jibal, which were conquered in the 930s, and central Iraq, which submitted in 945, the Bkyids took Kermn (967), Oman (967), the Jaz+ra (979), labaristn (980), and Gurgn (981)
• After this, however, the Bkyids went into a slow decline
• During the mid-11th century, the Buyid amirates gradually fell to the Ghaznavid and Saljuq Turks
• In 1055, Tughrul conquered Baghdad, the seat of the caliphate, and ousted the last of the Buyid rulers
• Like the Buyids, the Seljuks kept the Abbasid caliphate as the titular ruler

Mongols

• Came from the Mongol Empire in 1258 and sacked the city of Baghdad
•  After advancing through Syria they demanded control of Egypt from the Sultan
• After refusing to leave Egypt, the Mongols were defeated by the Mamluk army

Nizam al-Mulk

• Persian scholar known best a vizier or political advisor within the Seljuq Empire
• For a short time he was also he sole ruler of the empire
• He bridged the political gap between Abbasids and Seljuks against numerous common enemies at the time
• He was also known for be a founder of many higher education institutes

Hasan-i Sabbah

• A Persian Nizārī Ismā'īlī missionary who converted a community in the late 11th century in the heart of the Alborz Mountains of northern Iran. The place was called Alamut and was attributed to an ancient king of Daylam. He founded a group whose members are sometimes referred to as the Hashshashin or Assassins.
• From Berkey: The end of the Fatimids did not, however, spell the end of an Isma ili challenge to Sunni Islam…Development in the second half of the eleventh century, and in particular the crisis of leadership within the Fatimid family, encouraged Iranian Isma ilis to cultivate more local sources of authority. Under the leadership of the da I Hasan-I Sabbah, Iranian Isma ilis acknowledged the imamate of al-Mustansir’s eldest son Nizar, but the dynamic struggle in Egypt resulted in Nizar’s brother’s accession to the immamte, while Nizir himself was captured and eventually died. In the absence of a recognized and accessible Imam, Hasan took for himself the title hujja (“proof”) and so effectively staked a personal claim to final religious authority. At the direction of Hasan, the Ism ilis of Iran launched a scattered but vigorous revolt against the Saljuq regimes that dominated the Iranian world in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. Isma ilis seized and held a series of fortresses, especially in Quhistan and in the mountainous region to the south of the Caspian Sea, in particular Hasan’s inaccessible redoubt at Alamut; but Ism ili cells were active in the cities as well. Together these communities, though geographically fragmented, constituted a remarkably close-knit polity.
• Hassan i Sabbah became a major political force in Persia and the entire Islamic world by use of some surprisingly modern political techniques. Hassan i Sabbah managed to install his followers with a sense of freedom, at the same time as making them fanatically loyal to himself.

Omar Khayyam

o   At a young age he moved to Samarkand and obtained his education there, afterwards he moved to Bukhara and became established as one of the major mathematicians and astronomers of the medieval period. Recognized as the author of the most important treatise on algebra before modern times as reflected in his Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra giving a geometric method for solving cubic equations by intersecting a hyperbola with a circle. He contributed to the calendar reform and may have proposed a heliocentric theory well before Copernicus.

o   Significant role in the 11^th century Islam formation (refer to journal)

o   Was a philosopher, a "failasuf," as he was taunted by the mob that attacked him in the beginning of the novel. Why would a philosopher be attacked in Samarkand in the early 11th century? For all the reasons outlined above, Khayyam was an outsider to this trend of Sunni traditionalism. He read and advocated Greek philosophy and said what appeared to be blasphemous things to and about God (see the exchange between Khayyam and Abu Taher, pp. 11-12).  While Sunni traditionalists had no problem with the Greek "hard sciences" like math and astronomy, philosophy was a different story. This was what the Mu`tazilites used to argue that God does good acts because they're good, not that God's acts are good because God does them. This means that what is "good" is defined by a universal ideal of Goodness and Justice. In the other view, that taken by the traditionalists, anything that God does is good simply because God did it (even if it seems unjust - it is not our place to question it - "bila kayfa," without asking why). Khayyam DOES question why (see pp. 138-139), and therefore offends the sensibilities of Sunni traditionalists.

From lecture:

• Born in Nishapur, Khurassan 1048, died there 1131
• Contemporaries knew him as mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (“Sage of the World;” “Philosopher of the Universe”)
• Remained known as such until Fitzgerald’s translation
• Still extant scientific work
• Yearly education in Nishapur and Balkh
• In Samarkand wrote treatise on algebra, began service for the Saljuq sultan Malik Shah, avoided court life, 1092 Malik Shah died, Khayyam out of favor
• Left Samarkand, went on Hajj, returned to Nishapur

• A collection of Ruba'i (a form of Persian poetry)
• The best-known example of such a collection is the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, to the extent that Rubaiyat is often used as a short name for this particular collection
• There are also rubaiyats by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi
• Among modern Iranian poets, the rubaiyat of Hossein Ghods-Nakhai have been translated into various languages

• The result was what has been called a “Maladroit patrimonialism”, in which neither the religious nor the political elite was able to exercise unchallenged hegemony
• Both groups relied upon each other, the ulama needing the financial support provided by the soldiers, the latter benefiting from the ideological legitimating which only the former could supply
• Competition, both between the ulama and the military elite and also between members of each group, provided the system with its dynamic and at the same time placed limits on the authority which any individual, or group of individuals, could wield

• During judgment, it is believed that a person's own book of deeds will be opened and will be apprised of every action they did and every word spoken. Actions taken during childhood are not judged. The supposed account of deeds is believed to be so detailed that one would be in awe at how comprehensive the account is, such that even lesser and trivial deeds be included. Throughout the supposed judgment, however, the underlying principle is that of a complete and perfect justice administered by God. The accounts of judgment are also replete with the emphasis that God is merciful and forgiving, and that mercy and forgiveness will be granted on that day.
• “God shall never torment a heart that contains the Qur’an.” (Majlisi, XCII, p. 178)
• Qur’an imploring God for better rewards for its laborer (Majlisi, XCII, p. 188)

three developments as a result of the Christian threat

• What gave further impetus to concerns over the threat posed by Christianity was the Crusades, and the development of Sunni Islam in this period was in part a response to the challenge of the European Crusaders. There were three developments which, within the context of the “re-centering” of Sunni Islam in this period, we can identify as resulting from that challenge.
• 1) The first has to do with a certain reorientation in the mental compass of Near Eastern Muslims, at least those living in greater Syria and Egypt…But the sudden appearance of the Crusaders, and the attention which their presence demanded from the Muslims who confronted them, made the western half of the Near East more important. From a long-term perspective, we might identify this as the first step in a much longer process, as the growing power and reach of western Europe from the later Middle Period posed ever greater threats to Islam, threats which culminated in colonialism and the challenge of secular modernity. At the time, however, the immediate consequence was the rise to power of various regimes, first that of the Ayyubids and then the even greater empire of the Mamluks, which drew on the new Sunni idioms first articulated in the east and spread and refined them, building up a vibrant Sunni Muslim culture in Egypt and Syria which was the principal legacy of medieval Islam to the modern world (199).
• 2) The Crusades also encouraged among Muslims a renewed focus on the city of Jerusalem. A growing preoccupation with Jerusalem as a locus of holiness was already underway before the Crusaders arrive, thank in part to the mystics…So deeply was the idea of Jerusalem now rooted in the Muslim imagination that al-Kamil’s surrender of the city to the Christians provoked an outcry among ulama and common Muslims alike. Drive on by preachers, a group of Muslim peasants from the hill country around Jerusalem temporarily occupied the city before being driven out by the Franks, while al-Kamil, taken aback by the ferocity of the protests, was forced to cultivate an extensive campaign of propaganda to re-establish his bona fides as respectable Sunni ruler. And Jerusalem has remained fixed as a locus of Muslim veneration and pilgrimage down to the present day (199).
• 3) A final development driven by the Crusades was the reinvigoration of a militant spirit expressed in the ideology and practice of jihad, or holy war…In the Middle Period, however, the challenge posed by what amounted to a Christian jihad did stimulate a renewal of interest in armed warfare against infidels, an interest which had broader and long-lasting ramifications for the Sunni Muslim outlook (200).