Hi,
I was wondering if anybody knows of any good websites for learning more about the real fundamentals of Islam? Some websites don’t seem too reliable…
I’ve read some books and looked around the web, but I’m still shocked at how little I know about the basics of this religion.
Alternatively, if somebody on here could answer some questions that would be most useful.
Stuff like: What is Shariah Law? The Hadiths, Sunnah, and Qur’an? Mohammad? Jesus and the Bible in the Islamic worldview? What is the afterlife? Who is Allah?
I gave all those nouns capital letters cause I’m not sure if they should or not!
I’d be so grateful if somebody can help me out here.
God Bless,
ClemtheCatholic
Basic answers to the questions you asked:
Shariah law: a code of law believed to have been revealed by God. The job of interpreting and applying this law is “fiqh.” In the majority Sunni tradition, there are four schools of fiqh: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanbali (on issues that are of concern to non-Muslims, the order I have listed the schools is more or less from the most “liberal” or moderate to the most hardline, although the differences are fairly nuanced). The code of law to which Jakasaki linked (Reliance of the Traveler) is Shafi’i. For centuries, Sunni Muslims were expected to follow the established rulings of one of these schools. (This is often called “the closing of the gates of ijtihad,” with “ijtihad” being fresh interpretations of shari’a, but this seems to be a phrase used mostly by Western scholars, at least today.) In recent centuries, renewal movements in Islam have sought to “reopen the gates” and formulate fresh interpretations of shari’a based on the original sources. This has gone in both “liberal” and “fundamentalist” directions. What we think of as fundamentalist Islam is heavily influenced by a late medieval Hanbali scholar named Ibn Taymiyyah, so it tends to follow Hanbali interpretations, but treats even those with considerable freedom. On the other end of the spectrum, some liberal Muslims question not only established fiqh traditions but also the hadith, arguing that only the Qur’an is truly authoritative. Which leads to:
Qur’an, hadith, and sunnah of the prophet
Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the Word of God in the fullest sense of the term. Traditionally it’s seen as “uncreated” (kind of equivalent to Nicea’s decree about Jesus). Muhammad isn’t seen as the author in any real sense–God is.
The sunnah of the prophet, on the other hand, is the tradition handed down from Muhammad consisting of his teachings and example, and to a lesser extent the teachings/example of his companions. The sunnah is known through collections of sayings called “hadith,” which were edited and compiled by Islamic scholars a couple of centuries after Muhammad’s time. Western scholars and liberal Muslims have some questions about whether this process is as reliable as Muslims have traditionally believed.
Muhammad is regarded as the last prophet, through whom the Qur’an was revealed. Jesus is also seen as a great prophet–in fact, Muslims believe in both His virginal conception and His second coming, though not, oddly enough from our perspective, in His crucifixion (at least most Muslims don’t–the Qur’an can be interpreted more than one way on this point, but the traditional interpretation is that Jesus was not crucified). The main difference between Muhammad and previous prophets was that the earlier prophets’ message was corrupted by their followers. The Qur’an is the fullest revelation of God, and God did not allow it to be corrupted. Thus, Muslims see the Bible as a book containing genuine divine revelation but not trustworthy in its present form.
Websites: it is difficult to figure out where a given website is coming from. As in Christianity, fundamentalist Muslims will insist that their interpretation and only theirs is truly Muslim, so fundamentalist websites won’t label themselves as such. But here are a few websites I’m familiar with:
Islamicity
Islam Online
Shafi’i Fiqh
) but why do you want to learn about Islam?
why that hatred towards that youth girl!, she was forced to marry Muhammed when she was only 6 years and when he died she was 18, why don’t Shia consider that and show some sympathy towards her !!!