Islamic Community in North America: Prospects and Problems History of Islam and Muslims in North America is not new. Muslims have come to the American shores several times.

Mainstream Islam in the African-American Experience Mainstream Islam has deep roots in the African-American experience, roots that reach back to the history of slavery and early 20th-century black Sunni communities in the United States. race-blind religion?

Ornamentation In The Islamic Arts The six general or core characteristics of the work of Islamic art having been laid down earlier the reader might expect that we would now proceed to investigate architecture, manuscript painting,...

Ornamentation In The Islamic Arts (Pt. II) A Western art historian has described ornamentation as "that component of the art product which is added, or worked into it, for purposes of embellishment…

Ornamentation In The Islamic Arts (Pt. III) In addition to understanding the four important functions of Islamic ornamentation and thereby becoming aware of its significance, it is necessary to examine the structural organizations that underlie its infinite patterns.

Ornamentation In The Islamic Arts (Pt. IV) Artistic Motifs Of The Muslim World

The Natural Sciences To raise the question of the relation of Islam to the natural order is to seek Islam's answer to three different inquiries at once: What is nature? How is nature knowable? How is nature to be used?

The Natural Sciences Pt. II Islam holds that the totality of the world was created out of nothing. Within the world, things are created or come to be through natural causes, by means of material, formal, efficient, and final causes built by the Creator into nature.

The Natural Sciences Pt. III Islam's answer was direct and unequivocal. "It is God Who created heaven and earth...that you may distinguish yourselves by your better deeds" (Qur'an 11:7).

Hellenistic Philosophy Part I It is proper to say that the translation of Greek scientific and philosophical texts into Arabic became a movement toward the end of the second/eighth century...

Hellenistic Philosophy Part II AL FARABI, IBN SINA, AND IBN RUSHD

Tasawwuf (Mysticism) Tasawwuf, or the donning of wool, is the name given to a movement that dominated the minds and hearts of Muslims for a millennium, and is still strong in many circles of the Muslim world.

Tasawwuf (Mysticism) Pt. II The Sufis, or adherents of tasawwuf, devised for themselves an order and institutionalized for it an ideology, an organization, a program, and initiation and adoration rites.

Tasawwuf (Mysticism) Pt. III Unfortunately, and despite his tremendous influence, al Ghazali’s reform of tasawwuf, his attempt to restrain the exaggeration to which the movement was by nature bent, did not succeed.

Tasawwuf (Mysticism) Pt. IV The river of tasawwuf was formed by three books of thought. The first book contributed to tasawwuf the following ideals...

Kalam (Theology) Part I THE EARLY MANIFESTATIONS: The first manifestation of Islamic thought occurred outside of Arabia...

Kalam (Theology) Part II THE FLOWERING

The Islamic Law

The Islamic Law: The Need for Law God and creation are two absolutely distinct realms of being. Between them only one relation is possible, namely, that creation fulfill the will of the Creator; for the latter is its ultimate norm or ought-to-be.

The Islamic Law: The Values of the Shari’a Muslims believe that the Shari’a is the property of all humanity, that everyone is entitled to adjudicate his disputes with his peers under its provisions.

The Islamic Law: The Law in History Being the medium of a continual stream of revelation, the Prophet provided the Muslims with answers to their inquiries regarding what they ought to do.

The Sciences of the Hadith: The Sunnah as Second Source of Islam We have seen that the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad – his actions, sayings, judgments, and attitudes – constitute the exemplification of the message of Islam.

The Sciences of the Hadith: The Sciences The sciences of the hadith are divided into two main groups.

The Sciences of the Hadith: Results of Islamic Scholarship One million or more hadiths were in circulation by the end of the second century A.H. The task of collecting, classifying, and appraising them were formidable. However, Muslim scholars worked on them with diligence.

The Sciences of the Hadith: Conclusion There is no doubt that the methodological sciences of Islam were among their greatest achievements.

The Sciences of the Qur'an The Science Of Qira'ah (Recitation) and Asbab Al Nuzul (The Contexts Of Revelation)

The Sciences of the Qur'an: Makki And Madini (Historical Criticism) The Science Of Makki and Madini (Historical Criticism)

The Sciences of the Qur'an: Tafsir (Exegesis) The Sciences Of Tafsir (Exegesis)

The Sciences of the Qur'an: Istinbat Al Ahkam The Science Of Istinbat Al Ahkam (Extraction Of Law)

Al Futuhat: The Continuing Futuhat - Part II The same place the Qur’an accorded to "the People of the Book" (Christians, Sabeans, and Jews) and the same treatment the Shari’a accorded to them was extended by the Muslims to the Zoroastrians as soon as Persia passed under the dominion o

Al Futuhat: The Continuing Futuhat - Part I Nothing is further from the truth than the claim that Islam was spread by the sword, or the Hollywood image of a Muslim rider or foot soldier charging the enemy with a view to kill, subdue, or convert.

Al Futuhat: The Muslims’ Historical Campaigns The news of the Prophet’s death in 632 spread quickly among his companions and followers. Abu Bakr had taken leave of him at the dawn prayer to spend the day in a nearby oasis, and had believed that the Prophet’s sickness was passing.

Al Futuhat: The Campaigns of Muhammad Aware that the Banu Hashim, which had given Muhammad the protection needed to survive in a society divided by tribal loyalties, had lost their powerful position, Muhammad concluded a new security pact with the Muslim converts from Madinah.

Al Futuhat: The Spreading of Islam The word al futuhat is the plural of fattah, which means "opening." In the figurative sense, it is often used to refer to the victorious campaigns carried out by the Prophet (SAW) and his followers under the flag of Islam.

The Call of Islam: Islam’s Theory of Other Faiths For the Muslim, the relation of Islam to the other religions has been established by God in His revelation; and for him, the Qur’an is the ultimate religious authority, the final and definitive revelation of His will.

The Call of Islam: Nature of Islamic Mission ...the light of truth or the darkness of falsehood, virtue and immorality, da’wah or mission must be conducted with absolute integrity...

The Call of Islam: Islam’s Theory of Mission The Muslim regards himself as commanded by God to call all humans to a life of submission to Him, to Islam as a present participial act. His life goal is that of bringing the whole of humankind to a life in which Islam...

The Call of Islam Having come into history, the religion of Islam sought to convince humans of its truth and to recruit them for its fellowship. The essence of religious experience being what it is, Islam entertained the greatest plan ever...

Islamic Practices and Institutions: Al Khilafah Last, but not least, of the public institutions of Islam is al khilafah or al imamah, synonymous terms referring to the state or government. Al khilafah is the mother of all other institutions, their essential condition, without which all the other instit

Islamic Practices and Institutions: The Mosque, the Madrasah, and the Waqf In Islam, the mosque occupies a place of central importance. Regardless of its size, location, or splendor, the mosque has fulfilled the same function everywhere. Once built, the mosque belongs to no human owner. Its is literally owned by God...

Islamic Practices and Institutions: Hajj Islam prescribes that all capable Muslims perform pilgrimage to the Ka’bah in Makkah once in a lifetime.

Islamic Practices and Institutions: The Shahadah The shahadah (witnessing) is the solemn recitation of the words, "There is no God but God and Muhammad is the Prophet of God." These words may be recited alone or with the words, "Ashhadu anna" (I witness that), prefixed to them.

Islamic Practices and Institutions The essence of Islam was not only laid down in the words of the Qur’an - for the ready use of the understanding, and as sublime literature to move the deepest emotions, it was also expressed in the concrete deeds and judgments of the Prophet (SAW)...

The Sunnah: Muhammad as Leader Perhaps the most essential quality of leadership is the capacity to perceive and to assess correctly all the factors given in a situation...

The Sunnah: Muhammad as Family Man Muhammad was twenty-five when someone first suggested that he should get married. He was a poor man, a dependent of his uncle Abu Talib.

The Sunnah: Muhammad as Caller The divine command dictated that Muhammad should be a caller of men to God. It was to be his most solemn duty to convey the revelation to the world. The command cautioned that his duty did not go beyond conveyance, that is, informing, warning, and guiding

The Sunnah: Muhammad as Worshipper Servant of God The principal act of worship - salat - was imposed by God directly on Muhammad on the occasion of the Isra’ and Mi’raj (the night journey to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven...

The Sunnah: THE CONTENT Following the death of the Prophet, the Muslims found themselves a people with a cause, a people endowed with a mission as radical as it was universal...The whole world had to be remade in the likeness of the divine pattern.

The Sunnah: THE TEXTUAL BASE The burden placed upon man by the Islamic revelation, namely, henceforth to translate the revelation into laws or precepts for action, was a heavy one indeed.

The Sunnah

The Qur’an and Civilization, Part 3 THE IDEOLOGICAL CONTENT OF THE QUR’AN

The Qur’an and Civilization, Part 2 CLIMAX OF THE PHENOMENON OF PROPHECY

The Qur’an and Civilization, Part 1 REVELATION AND THE HISTORY OF PROPHECY

The Qur’an and Civilization Index

Tawhid as Essence of Civilization: Part 2 To witness that there is no God but God is to hold that He alone is the Creator Who gave to everything its being, Who is the ultimate Cause of every event, and the final End of all that is, that He is the First and the Last.

Tawhid as Essence of Civilization: Part 3 Tawhid asserts that "this ummah of yours is a single ummah whose Lord is God. Therefore, worship and serve Him.”

Tawhid as Essence of Civilization: Part 1 ...tawhid has two aspects or dimensions: the methodological and the contentual. The former determines the forms of application and implementation of the first principles of the civilization; the latter determines the first principles...

The Essence of Islamic Civilization There can be no doubt that the essence of Islamic civilization is Islam; or that the essence of Islam is tawhid, the act of affirming Allah to be the One, absolute, transcendent Creator, Lord and Master of all that is.