[...]... has been able to adapt to many different and conflicting circumstances It has adapted to hereditary monarchies and electoral republics, to Socialism and Capitalism, to innovation and convention, to contraception and the lack of it, to nomadism and to civilization No one can claim that his or her Islam is the true Islam Islam is a call to all humans to achieve and fulfill their humanity as best they... belief and commitment It is important to note that the reading I suggest here is one that tries to move away from the substantivist views of Islam Many books and articles by distinguished Muslims or non-Muslims contain assertions such as: Islam rejects the separation between the spiritual and the temporal; Islam calls for reason; Islam carries the seeds of hostility towards its adversaries; Islam honors... adversaries; Islam honors women; Islam degrades 8 ISLAM women In fact, Islam is exempt from all such judgements presented as final and established facts beyond any argument Despite the specific features, which bind its followers and distinguish them from the followers of other religions or from non-believers, there is not one Islam, and there never has been, either in time or in space Islam has been able to... psychological analysis, the study of myth and fantasy, and many other approaches which have led scholars away from scientism and from the habit of assigning to rationality a unique status within the broad spectrum of human concerns INTRODUCTION 7 As a result of this development, the struggle between reason and religion or between knowledge and faith—inherited from the past and in particular from the nineteenth... Mohammed fluctuates between praise for his ideal personal traits and the assertion that he attained his prophetic stature through divine selection (LVWLIDu uLO­KL) and not through any human predisposition But divine selection does not necessarily conflict with human predisposition What distinguishes the two is that divine selection is accepted on the basis of choice and faith, and cannot be inferred... beginning and end of the fertile season These rituals were related to death, birth, puberty, marriage, illness, and other crucial events in life They also included the consecration of trees and places as well as some natural phenomena such as the sun, the moon, and other planets, the adoption of idols and the deification of kings, legends of kings and deities, etc Their diversity, profusion, and complexity... by paralysis, fainting, convulsions and other unusual states They were especially aware of the fact that they were not speaking of their own accord but, rather, conveying the word of God and transmitting His commands and prohibitions Those individuals who appeared in particular between the eighth and the fifth century B.C are the ones whose prophecies were recorded and preserved in the Old Testament... of war and famines, together with the mutual influences that accompany such exchanges The »DMM, or pilgrimage to Mecca, on one hand, and the markets, on the other, provided opportunities for the mingling and interaction of doctrines and ideas Thus we must regard the rise of Islam at the beginning of the seventh century not only as a natural extension of the monotheistic religions in the Jewish and Christian... Jewish and Christian groups inhabiting „LM­] and the north and south of the Arab Peninsula were neither high nor refined For none of these groups, with the exception of the Christians of „ÀUD, is known for any significant contribution to the theoretical and theological output, for example, of Syria and Egypt In the interaction between the culture of the adherents of these two monotheistic religions and. .. Chebika, Tunis, 1994, p 115 26 ISLAM ship of idols and to believe in one god, the god of Abraham and of his son Ishmael, the grandfather of the Arabs: they were known as the Hanafites (DO D»Q­I) In other words, the period in which Islam emerged was a period of change at all levels; a time that called for individuals who could bring great hopes and open up wide horizons And it was Mohammed, the son of . email=yyepg@msn.com Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Date: 2005.07.10 22:02:19 +08'00' Islam Islam Between Divine Message and History by Abdelmajid Sharfi Central European. cloth ISBN 963 7326 16 2 paperback Sharfi, Abdelmajid. [Al -Islam bayn ar-risala wa't-tarikh. English] Islam between divine message and history / by Abdelmajid Sharfi. p. cm. Includes index. . practiced by the state or social pressure goes hand in hand with fear and suspicion of all that is not familiar and established by habit and custom. However, Islamic societies are not homogeneous either collectively