The Islam Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained

✍ Scribed by DK

• Publisher: DK
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 649
• Series: Big Ideas Simply Explained
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This comprehensive, accessible, and authenticated guide to Islam is essential to understanding the world's fastest-growing religion.

This essential guide to Islam covers every aspect of the Muslim faith and its history - from the life of the Prophet Muhammad and the teachings of the Koran to Islam in the 21st century. Celebrating the scientific, literary, and artistic achievements of the Islamic Golden Age and the ideas of philosophers and theologians across the centuries, it opens a window on the Islamic world.

Clear factual writing offers insight into terms like Sharia law, the Caliphate, and jihad; Sunni and Shia divisions; and Sufi poetry and music. Images of Islamic art, architecture, calligraphy, and historical artifacts illustrate the articles while the Big Ideas' trademark infographics and flowcharts explore and explain the central tenets of Islam, such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage.

Modern issues such as fundamentalism are discussed in context alongside the work of peaceful traditionalists, modernizers, and women's rights campaigners, among others. Packed with inspiring quotations and bold illustrations, The Islam Book is an invaluable source of information both for members of one of the world's major religions and readers looking for a clear unbiased guide to the meaning of this faith.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
CONTENTS
HOW TO USE THIS eBOOK
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
MUHAMMAD • 570–632
You knew nothing of the book or belief • Al-Jahiliyya, the Time of Ignorance
Muhammad is God’s final messenger • The early life of Muhammad
Your blood will be my blood • Hijra, the flight from Mecca
The noblest community ever raised up for mankind • The umma, the community of Islam
A beacon for the nations • The Kaaba at Mecca
There is no god but God • The Five Pillars of Islam: Shahada
Hurry to prayer, hurry to salvation • The Five Pillars of Islam: salat
I show [mercy] to those that… give alms • The Five Pillars of Islam: zakat
Believers, fasting is decreed for you • The Five Pillars of Islam: sawm
I am here O Lord, I am here • The Five Pillars of Islam: Hajj
Muhammad is no more than a messenger: other messengers have passed away before him • The death of the Prophet
What are these images to which you are so devoted? • Depicting the Prophet
THE QURAN
This book is not to be doubted • Compiling the Quran
A guide for the righteous • The composition of the Quran
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate • The Fatiha, the first sura
The Lord of All Being • What the Quran says about God
There shall be no compulsion in religion • Tolerating the beliefs of others
And all things we have made in pairs • Women in the Quran
Believers, have faith in God • The Six Pillars of Faith
None may touch except the purified • The physical form of the Quran
New in every age, fresh for every people • Tafsir, or the art of interpreting the Quran
Enter Paradise and abide therein for ever • The Quranic concept of Heaven
Cursed be the inmates of the conflagration • The Quranic concept of Hell
AN ISLAMIC IDENTITY • 632–786
All the Earth is a mosque • An Islamic place of worship
He was superior to us as a Muslim • A successor to the Prophet
I am placing on the Earth one that shall rule as my deputy • The rightly guided caliphs
The Imam is God’s chosen leader • The emergence of Shia Islam
And for the Moon, we have ordained phases • The Islamic calendar
Whoever turns from my way is not from me • Sayings and actions of the Prophet
He has forbidden you… the flesh of swine • Muslim dietary laws
Wine and games of chance… are abominations • Islam and alcohol, gambling, and drugs
God has laid His curse on usury • Money-lending in Islam
We have ordained a law and assigned a path • God’s guidance through Sharia
The supreme jihad is against oneself • The quest to make God’s word supreme
Part of the completion of Islam • The Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates
Grant me then the beauty of Your face • Sufism and the mystic tradition
THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM • 756–1526
Seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim • The House of Wisdom
There is no conflict between Islam and science • The first modern scientists
We should not be ashamed to acknowledge truth • The beginnings of Islamic philosophy
The reunion of broken parts • Arabic numerals and al-jabr
Have they never observed the sky above them…? • The uses of astronomy
People need stories more than bread itself • The chain of oral tradition
The brilliant ornament of the world • The example of Islamic Spain
The knowledge of anything is not complete unless it is known by its causes • Ibn Sina and the Canon of Medicine
Everything in the Universe is within you • The writings of Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi
The Earth is round like a sphere • Mapping the Islamic world
May God grant victory to Islam • The Crusades through Muslim eyes
God opened the heart of the king to Islam • Spreading Islam through trade
Put on the holy mantle and pray to God • The caliphate of the Ottoman Empire
The first thing God created was the pen • The divine art of Islamic calligraphy
The shadow of God on Earth • The Safavid Empire
God is beautiful and He loves beauty • Islamic art and architecture
The righteous shall be lodged… amid gardens • Paradise on Earth
Most worshippers of God are intent on the advancement of their own destiny • The Mughal Empire
REFORM AND REVIVAL • 1527–1979
Better Turkish than Popish • Islam in Europe
Unifiers of Islamic practice • Wahhabism, or an Islamic Reformation
A problematic European attitude towards Islam • Orientalism
Purification by the sword • The Mahdi of Sudan
I have been commissioned and I am the first of the believers • The origins of Ahmadiyya
The centre of attention is no longer Islam as a religion • The rise of Islamic Modernism
America needs to understand Islam • Early Muslims in America
Provided it does not interfere with sane reason • The secularization of Turkey
Our constitution is the Quran • The birth of Saudi Arabia
Islam is the solution • The rise of political Islam
Land of the Pure • The creation of Pakistan
Islam is politics or it is nothing • The Iranian Revolution
ISLAM TODAY
We belong to God, and to Him we shall return • Rites of passage
The seven houses of Islam • The demographics of Islam today
An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab • The Arabization of global Islam
Democracy and Islam are not incompatible • Islam and democracy
Should you disagree about anything refer it to God • The modern Sharia state
More political than religious • Sunni and Shia in the modern Middle East
No negotiations, no conferences, and no dialogues • The new extremists
People really live Islam here • Islam in Africa
All too many Muslims fail to grasp Islam • Islam in Indonesia
Why do I have to prove to you that I’m a good guy? • Muslims in the West
Don’t panic, I’m Islamic • The rising tide of Islamophobia
My identity Z Islam & umma is my family • Islam in the digital age
What Muslims consume affects who they are • The global business of halal
Ethical finance can be a force for good • Islamic banking
Islam is a religion that empowers women • A feminist Islam?
Beautiful to God rather than people • The hijab and niqab
The best people are those living in my generation • Salafism
Islam has been a progressive faith since the beginning • Progressive Islam
DIRECTORY
GLOSSARY
CONTRIBUTORS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
COPYRIGHT