Islam: past, present and future

The Aim of this Book

Against the clash of civilizations

Making people capable of dialogue

A long intellectual journey

A. Origin

AI. A Controversial Religion

1. The hostile image of Islam

The usefulness of a hostile image

Intolerance, militancy, backwardness?

Is dialogue impossible?

Eastern knowledge, Western ignorance

From polemical caricature to balanced reassessment

Enlightenment through literature

Oriental studies and orientalism

2. The idealized image of Islam

An invitation to conversion

The fascination of Islam

May we be critical?

Neither prohibitions of questions nor lame comparisons

3. The real image of Islam

The 'essence' of Islam in changing forms

The 'essence' of Islam and its perversion

The status quo as a criterion?

Understanding Islam from the inside

AII. Problems of the Beginning

1. Five thousand years of Near Eastern high religions

Arabia on the periphery of the great empires

The breakthrough of prophetic monotheism-Israel and Iran

2. Jews, Christians and Jewish Christians in Arabia

The Jews in the competition over Arabia

Six centuries of Arab Christianity

Arabic-also a language of Christians

No roots in Hellenistic Christianity

Traces of Jewish Christianity

Vilification of Jewish Christians

Jewish Christianity on the Arabian peninsula?

3. Abraham-the common ancestor of the 'people of the book'

Who was Abraham?

Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael: biblical perspectives

Dispute over the Abrahamic heritage: Qur'anic perspectives

What binds Jews, Christians and Muslims together

Is Islam a way of salvation?

B. Centre

BI. God's Word has Become a Book

1. The Qur'an-the specific feature of Islam

A definition of essence that goes beyond essence

The Qur'an-an Arabic, living, holy book

The Qur'an-God's word

2. The Qur'an-a book fallen from heaven?

There is a process of canonization in all 'books of religion'

A wearisome process of collecting and editing

Periods of revelation

The Qur'an as the Islamic constant

Is the Qur'an also the Word of God for Christians?

BII. The Central Message

1. There is no God but God

The practical theocentricity of Islam

Monotheism as a core concern and fighting programme

The creation of the world and human beings

God's supremacy-and human responsibility?

The last judgement and the final destiny of human beings

A concrete paradise and hell

The most beautiful names of God

The common belief in God in the three Abrahamic religions

2. Muhammad is his Prophet

The common basic ethic of the three prophetic religions

A prophetic religion par excellence

How the Prophet was called: the messenger of God

The battle for justice: the threat to the status quo

The battle for the oneness of God: 'Satanic verses'

Emigration: the turn of the ages

3. The Prophet as leading figure

How the Prophet became the statesman: the founding of a community

The break with the Jews

The Islamic theology of history

How the Prophet became the general: purges and wars

Muhammad's legacy

Achievements and virtues of the Prophet

Immoral? The traditional charges

Like the prophets of Israel

Is Muhammad also a prophet for Christians?

BIII. The Central Structural Elements

1. Mandatory prayer

Daily ritual prayer-the essential symbol of Islam

Characteristics of Islamic prayer and worship: no priesthood

Physical manifestations: mosque-muezzin-minaret

2. Almsgiving, fasting, pilgrimage

Annual almsgiving for the poor

The annual period of fasting

The great pilgrimage to Mecca

A change in the substance of faith

C. History

CI. The Original Paradigm of the Islamic Community

1. Abiding substance of faith-changing paradigms

Is there also a paradigm change in Islam?

New epoch-making constellations

2. A religious vision realized

The new Islamic community

A religion of law?

Test cases: blood vengeance, the prohibition of usury, the ban on alcohol

The new responsibility of the individual

Arab and Muslim virtues

3. The religious and social transformation

The stabilization of marriage and family

Women-highly valued or discriminated against?

The Islamic constitution-a divine state

What is Islamic and what is Arab-Bedouin?

4. From the Prophet to the Prophet's representative

Who is to lead?

The choice of a successor: Abu Bakr, the first caliph

From the desert to the confrontation with the high cultures

5. The original community expands

Islamic politics: 'Umar, the second caliph

How was Arab-Islamic expansion possible?

The first wave of conquest and the great confrontation with Christianity

Neither assimilation of the Muslims nor conversion of the Christians

6. The beginnings of Islamic theology and law

A Meccan, not an Islamic policy: 'Uthman, the third caliph

From word of mouth to writing: the Qur'an as a book

An Islamic theology?

The germs of local theologies

Still no specifically Islamic system of law

7. The great crisis in the original community: the split into parties

'Ali, the fourth caliph-disputed

The first civil war

The split between Sunnis, Kharijites and Shiites

The memory of the golden age

CII. The Paradigm of the Arab Empire

1. From Medina to Damascus: the new centre of power

The Umayyads come to power: Mu'awiyyah

A centralist monarchy develops

The establishment of the dynastic principle

2. The Shiite opposition

Husayn-the model for all martyrs

A separate 'confession': the Shiah

The new bearer of the hope of the opposition, the Mahdi; the second civil war

3. Imperial religious politics under the aegis of Islam

A pious autocrat: 'Abd al-Malik

Introduction of a Muslim currency

Arabic becomes the official language

Art is Islamized

4. The origin of Islamic law

State judges: the qadis

Islamization of the law: pious specialists

The theoretical foundation of the law

5. A new community of many peoples

From patriarchal regime to imperial government

The dividing walls collapse

Arabs and non-Arabs mix

6. A world empire comes into being

Paradigm change in foreign and military policy

The second wave of conquest: an empire from India to Spain

The second great confrontation with Christianity

7. A theological controversy with political consequences

Predestination by God-theologically disputed

Human self-determination-politically dangerous: the Qadarites

Still no theological orthodoxy

Recourse to the Qur'an: the Kharijites

Postponement of judgement: the Murjites

8. The crisis of the empire

What is to be done with the new Muslims? The reform caliphate of 'Umar II

A coup and an inaugural sermon

Towards the third civil war

The end of the Arab empire

The paradigm of the Arab empire as a vision of hope: Pan-Arabism

CIII. The Classical Paradigm of Islam as a World Religion

1. A new era begins

Baghdad, the new cultural metropolis of Islam

Islam as a world religion instead of the Arab nation

The cosmopolitan splendour of the caliphate

How the caliphs ruled

A tale from The 1001 Nights?

2. Classical Islam: a world culture

Arabic as a language of communication and a high language

Persian education and way of life

Hellenistic philosophy and science

The new role of the religious scholars

Classical Islamic law: the Shariah

3. The formation of the 'traditions of the Prophet', the Sunnah

What the Prophet said and did: the hadith

The science of the hadith

The victory of the traditionists

Are the hadith authentic?

A second source of revelation?

4. The four great law schools

The Malikite and Hanafite law schools

The classical juristic synthesis: ash-Shafi'i

The traditionalist principle becomes established

Is the door of 'legal findings' closed? Ibn Hanbal

Does innovation become fossilized tradition?

5. The second theological dispute: revelation and reason

The new importance of reason

The beginnings of rational theology: Wasil and 'Amr

Confrontation with the caliphate?

The paradigm of a rational theology

A God without properties? Jahm

God has properties: Abu l-Hudhayl's rational system

What are the consequences for the image of human beings?

6. The state and theology

The fourth civil war and its consequences for theology

An Islamic magisterium: al-Ma'mun and the Mu'tazilites

Is inquisition ('examination') in keeping with the mind of the Prophet?

The Mut' azilites gain and lose power

Rational theology is subsumed into traditional theology: al-Ash'ari

7. The disintegration of the empire

The crisis of the institutions

The end of the world empire

The classical paradigm of a world religion as an image of hope: Pan-Islamism

CIV. The Paradigm of the Ulama and Sufis

1. After one empire, many states

Regionalization in east and west

The third confrontation between Islam and Christianity: the crusades

The post-imperial period: anti-caliphs

The Turks as heirs of the Islamic empire: sultans instead of caliphs

The Mongol invasion and its devastating consequences

2. The Ulama: legal schools become popular movements

Functions: training cadres, forming communities, networking

The new form of organization: the madrasah

Popular movements and party factions

Is there an alternative to an Islam of the law?

3. The Sufis: mystics form themselves into brotherhoods

Is mysticism an original element of Islam? Asceticism at the beginning

Is mysticism un-Islamic? Personal experience of God

The goal of mysticism-abiding life in God: Muhasibi and Junayd

Does mysticism have limits? The conflict over al-Hallaj

4. Sufism as a mass movement

The regulation of the Sufi communities

Parallels to Christian religious orders

Social work, mission, war

No progress for women

Shadow sides of Sufism

A religion of the heart instead of a religion of reason?

5. Normative theology

The long way of theology

A synthesis of Shariah Islam and Sufi Islam: al-Ghazali

Where does fundamental certainty come from? A forerunner of Descartes?

Which way of life: theology, philosophy, esotericism?

The crisis and the turn towards mysticism

6. Theological Summas

Two masters of theology: al-Ghazali and Thomas Aquinas

Parallels in life

Parallels in work

Differences of style, method and interest

Different overall structures

The abiding fundamental difference

Fossilization or renewal of theology?

7. The rise and fall of Arabic philosophy

Can there be an independent Islamic philosophy?

Beginnings of Arabic philosophy: al-Kindi, ar-Razi, al-Farabi

The high point of historic Arabic philosophy: Ibn Sina

The end of Arabic Islamic philosophy: Ibn Rushd

Al-Andalus: an Arabized Christianity

Al-Andalus: a fertile symbiosis of Muslims and Jews

One dominant religion, two recognized minorities

History as a cycle of rise and decline: Ibn Khaldun

8. The crisis of medieval Islam

The beginning of Western Christian philosophy

A continuation of the Middle Ages instead of a renaissance

The victory of traditionalism: al-Mawardi, Ibn Taymiyyah

Freedom, reason, human dignity?

CV. The Paradigm of Islamic Modernization

1. Confrontation with European modernity

Is Islam to blame for the stagnation?

Islamic expansion in India, South Africa and South-East Asia

Different social structures

Why was there no Islamic reformation?

2. The great Islamic empires: Mughals, Safavids, Ottomans

The Indian Mughal empire: Akbar's unitary religion

'Re-islamization' and decline

The Persian Safavid empire: the first Shiite state

Shiite piety and politics

The Turkish Ottoman empire: the new Muslim world power

The difference in South-East Asian Islam

3. How Europe challenged the world of Islam

The thrust towards modernization I: the scientific and philosophical revolution

A paradigm change in Islam?

The thrust towards modernization II: the cultural and theological revolution

Enlightenment in Islam?

The thrust towards modernization III: the political and democratic revolution

Islam and the French Revolution

The thrust towards modernization IV: the technological and industrial revolution

Reforms in Islam?

Questions for European modernity

4. Between reform and reaction

Ulama for reforms: Islamic reformism

Opposition to the reforms: Islamic traditionalism

The new elites: Islamic modernism

European imperialism: a paradigm of confrontation and aggression

Secular nationalism: the downfall of the Ottoman empire

Arab renaissance?

D. Challenges of the Present

DI. Competition between Paradigms

1. The secularist way

Turkish secularism: Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Radical rejection of the Shariah

2. The Islamist way

Feudal Arabic Islamism: the Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia

Political-social radical Islamism: Khomeini's Islamic revolution

3. The socialist way

Arab socialism: Egypt

Pan-Arabism: Syria

Aggressive nationalism: Iraq

DII. What Kind of Islam do Muslims Want?

1. The contemporaneity of competing paradigms

Option I. Pan-Islamism?

Option II. Pan-Arabism?

Option III. Islamism?

Option IV. Socialism?

Option V. Secularism?

2. Islam in a constant state of change

Questions to traditionalists, secularists and reformers

A chasm in knowledge that is growing dramatically

How is the gap in education to be closed?

DIII. The Middle East Conflict and a New Paradigm

1. Causes of conflict

The state of Israel on Palestinian land

The Arab dilemma: Israel either un-Jewish or undemocratic

2. No end to the tragedy?

Persisting in the old paradigm

What could be

Opportunities for the new paradigm

DIV. New Approaches to Theological Conversation

1. Yesterday's methods

The traditional controversy

The defensive strategies on both sides

2. Dialogue about Jesus

Jesus in the Qur'an: God's messenger, not son

What does it mean for Jesus to be God's son?

What could Muhammad have known?

An affinity between the Qur'anic and the Jewish-Christian understandings of Christ

Reflecting on the cross

Jesus fully integrated into the Islamic tradition

What are the opportunities for a 'trialogue' on Jesus? Does it ask too much?

DV. Speculative Questions

1. Monotheism and Trinity

The Muslim belief in one God versus the Christian Trinity

Is criticism of the Qur'an legitimate?

Is there a distinction in God?

2. Reflection on the Bible

How do we speak of Father, Son and Spirit in biblical terms?

Christ and the Trinity: from the Bible to dogma

The situation of interreligious dialogue

Stages of time and systems of language

DVI. From Biblical Criticism to Qur'anic Criticism?

1. Literal revelation?

The Bible-is every word inspired?

The Qur'an-the question of historical contingency

2. Critical exegesis

The exegesis of the Qur'an-phases and problems

Beginnings of a modern exegesis of the Qur'an

Diversity of approaches and forms

Insights and hypotheses of Western exegesis of the Qur'an

New insights of Muslim exegesis of the Qur'an

3. A time-sensitive understanding of the Qur'an

Historical-critical hermeneutics of the Qur'an

Historical-anthropological hermeneutics of the Qur'an

Pluralistic-political hermeneutics of the Qur'an

What could a time-sensitive understanding of the Qur'an mean today?

E. Possibilities for the Future

EI. Islamic Renewal

1. The programme

Factors in the revival

Renewal as a return to the origins

Islam-the 'third force' for the future?

2. Approaches towards realization

Turkey-a laboratory for Islamic democracy?

Pioneer Islamic thinkers

Critical dialogue also with moderate Islamists

EII. The Future of the Islamic Legal Order

1. The challenge to traditional legal systems

The spread of legalism-in all three prophetic religions

Catching up with the Reformation

Reintroduction of the Shariah? Nigeria, the test case

2. The challenge of modern legal systems

Human rights-a test case for Christianity and Judaism

Human rights-a test case for Islam

An Islamic basis for human rights?

3. Religions and women-a relationship of tension

Equal rights for women in Christianity and Judaism?

Equal rights for women in Islam?

Muslim women for women's rights

4. Reforms are indispensable

Protection of minorities?

Is the Shariah simply a code of life?

Towards a modern Shariah

General ethical framework: rights and responsibilities

EIII. The Future of Islamic State Order and Politics

1. State and religion-united or separated?

A trilateral comparison

Religion and state in Judaism

Separation of religion and state with Jesus of Nazareth?

The different context of the Prophet Muhammad

State and religion in Christianity and Islam

2. Secularity without secularism

Farewell to aggressive universalistic Christian and Muslim claims

Future perspectives for Islam and Christianity

Religious freedom-even to change religion?

3. Religion, violence and 'holy wars'

Does monotheism have a special propensity to Violence?

Holy wars of Yahweh?

Violence in the sign of the cross

'Holy wars' of Muslims?

4. War or peace?

Realm of Islam-realm of war

Radicalization of the idea of jihad?

A hermeneutic of peacemaking

A pedagogy of peacemaking

A pragmatic of peacemaking

EIV. The Future of the Islamic Economic Order

1. Is Islam the solution?

The Mediterranean between piracy and good neighbourliness

Why the economic backwardness?

The prohibition of usury-required and evaded

2. Islamic traditions rediscovered

Islamic banking systems

Islamic foundations

3. Commerce and ethics

Ethical principles for commerce in keeping with Islam

The need for an ethical framework

Islamic commercial principles as a bridge

EV. The Future of the Islamic Way of Life

1. Do clothes make people?

Problems for Christian churches with the veil

The commandment for head coverings for Muslim women-not in the Qur'an

What is at issue in the dispute over the headscarf?

2. Walking the tightrope between Islamism and secularism

An Islamist fundamentalism

A secularist fundamentalism

Neither Islamism nor secularism as a model

3. Dialogue rather than clash

Not prohibition but understanding

Pragmatic, not ideological solutions

A short excursus on the German legal situation

4. Controversies centred on the mosque

Mosques

Minarets

The call to prayer

Legal standpoint or dialogue?

Muslims, Christians and Jews-together in prayer?

An ecumenical prayer

Epilogue: Islam, an Image of Hope

1. From a hostile image to an image of hope

The fateful question for Islam

Contemporary Islam

2. An enlightened sense of religion

The modern differentiation of religion

Islam-only a part-system?

Ethics as the foundation of democracy-in Islam too

Islam as a help in life

Islam and world problems: the population explosion as a test case

3. The Muslim contribution dialogue among civilizations

Bridges into the future

Shared ethical standards and universal human values

The Islamic foundation for a global ethic

The basis for an understanding between Islam and the West

Conclusion

Notes

Index

List of tables and maps

A word of thanks