by Shaheed Isma'il Raji al Faruqi with permission of the Islamic Institute
for Strategic Studies, Washington, Virginia, which plans to publish this article as part
of a book--Shaping the Future: A Grand Strategy for America--by Dr. Robert D.
Crane. Shaheed Faruqi was the founding president of the International Institute
of Islamic Thought in Herndon, Virginia. Earlier versions of this article were
published in the late 1970s, and in the American Journal of Islamic Social
Sciences around 1985. Errors introduced in scanning this article from the
printed version are ours.
The only kind of contention possible for the Muslim is that of exegetical variation. But in this realm, the scope of variation is limited in two directions. First, continuity of Muslim practice throughout the centuries constitutes an irrefutable testament to the meanings attributed to the Qur'anic verses. Second, the methodology of Muslim orthodoxy in exegesis rests on the principle that Arabic lexicography, grammar, and syntax, which have remained frozen and in perpetual use by the millions ever since their crystallization in the Qur'an, leave no contention without solution. These facts explain the universality with which the Qur'anic principles were understood and observed, despite the widest possible variety of ethnic cultures, languages, races, and customs characterizing the Muslim world, from Morocco to Indonesia, and from Russia and the Balkans to the heart of Africa.
As for the non-Muslims, they may contest the principles of Islam. They must know, however, that Islam does not present its principles dogmatically, for those who believe or wish to believe, exclusively. It does so rationally, critically. It comes to us armed with logical and coherent arguments, and expects our acquiescence on rational, and hence necessary, grounds. It is not legitimate for us to disagree on the relativist basis of personal taste, or that of subjective experience.
We propose to analyze Islam's ideational relation in three stages: that which pertains to Judaism and Christianity, that which pertains to the other religions, and that which pertains to religion as such, and hence to all humans, whether they belong to any or no religion.
1. On this point Muslim scholarship is unanimously in agreement. To those who are not familiar with this longstanding tradition, suffice it to warn that the situation of hermeneutical despair and confusion which exists in the case of Jewish, Christian, Buddhist and other scriptures has absolutely no parallel in Islam.
2. Qur'an 20:88, 29:46, and 42:15.
3. Qur'an 2:285.
4. Qur'an 2:140.
5. Qur'an 3:84.
6. Qur'an 3:24.
7. Qur'an 3:2-4.
8. Qur'an 5:69.
9. Qur'an 3:67 and 21:71-94
10. An analysis of ancient Near Eastern religious consciousness may be read in
this author's Historical Atlas of tize Religions of tize World (New York: The
Macmillan Co., 1974), pp.3-34.
11. The evidence of Tall al ÔAmarnah (Akhetaten) is the very opposite. The Egyptian colonial governors in Palestine cornmunicated with the Pharaoh not in Egyptian but in Akkadian.
12. Regarding the latter, Sabatino Moscati wrote: "In the course of establishing themselves, the new peoples thoroughly absorbed the great cultural tradition already existing. In this process of absorption, Mesopotamia seems to prevail.
Like Rome in the Middle Ages, despite its political decadence, Mesopotamia celebrates the triumph of its culture (over its enemies)." The Face of the
Ancient Orient (New York: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1962), p.164.
13. Leader of the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 19 A.H I 641 A.C. and late Governor
14.Qur'an 3:68. Quran 3:68
15. Qur'an 3:68. Quran 5:82.
16. Qur'an 3:63-64.
17. Qur'an 17:13-15.
18. Qur'an 35:24.
19. Qur'an 40:78 and 4:163.
20. Qur'an 16:36.
21. Qur'an 14:4.
22. Qur'an 4:164.
23. It should be added here that Islam holds its revelation to be mainly a revelation of a "what" that can become a "how" befitting any historical situation. Thus, the "how"' or prescriptive form of the law may and does change in substance as well as in application, but not its spirit, purpose, or "what." Usul al Fiqh discipline has devised and institutionalized a system to govern the process of evolution of the law.
24. Qur'an 6:124.
25. Qur'an 2:30.
26. Qur'an 33:72.
27. Qur'an 23:116.
28. Qur'an 3:191.
29. Qur'an 38:27.
30. Qur'an 51:56.
31. We have not created heaven and earth but ... for you to prove yourselves
worthier in your deeds. ... All that is on earth and all the worldly ornaments we
have made thereof are to the purpose of men proving themselves worthier in the
deed (Quran 11:7,6:165, and 18:7).
32. Qur'an 95:4.
33. Qur'an 32:7-8.
34. Qur'an 14:32-33.
35. Qur'an 16:14, 22:36-37, 22:65, 31:20, and 45:12. 60
36. Qur'an 11:61.
37. Qur'an67:15.
38. Qur'an 30:30 and 48:23.
39. On the philosophical uncertainty of the laws of nature, see Clarence Irving
Lewis, Analysis of Knowledge and Valuauon (Lasalle, IL: Open Court
Publishing Co., 1946) and George Santayana, Skepticism and Animal Faith
(New York: Charles Scribners & Sons, 1923). Their position, which is that of
contemporary science, is epistemologically identical to that held by al Ghazali
(d. 504/1111) in his controversy with the philosophers (see his Tahafrt al
Falasifah or Refutation of the Philosophers, tr. by Sabih Kamali (Lahore:
Pakistan Philosophical Congress, 1963).
40. Qur'an 51:21, 33:62, and 35:43.
41. Qur'an 15:9.
42. Qur'an 30:30.
43. Qur'an 3:19.
44.This is the substance of the Hadith, "Everyman is born with natural
religion --i.e. as a Muslim. It is his parents that make him a Jew, a Magian, or
a Christian.
45. Rudolph Otto, The idea of the Holy (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1958).
46. Mircea Eliade, Patterns of Comparative Religion (London: Sheed and
Ward, Ltd., undated) and The Sacred and the Profane (New York: Harper and Row,
1961).
47. Qu'ran 49:13
48. Ibid
49. Ishaq ibn Hisham, Sirat Rasul Allah (The Life of Muhammad), tr. by Alfred Guillaume (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1946)
Thomas Arnold, The Preaching of Islam (London: 1906; Lahore: Muhammad Ashraf Publications, 1961).
Al Kufi, Shah-Namah, tr., by H. M. Elliott in his The History of l~dia Os Told by Its Own Historians (London: 1867-77), vol 1, pp. 184-97.
50. Thomas Arnold, The Preaching of Islam (London: 1906; Lahore: Muhammad
Ashraf Publications, 1961).
51. Al Kufi, Shah-Namah, tr., by H. M. Elliott in his The History of
l~dia Os Told by Its Own Historians (London: 1867-77), vol 1, pp. 184-97.
Preceding article was posted to twf.org on May 10, 2001