Category Archives: Islamic Texts

Lost in the Lost Archive

Bible and Holy Land, Islam and Christianity, Islam in Europe, Qur'an

The following is a reaction to the article “The Lost Archive” in The Wall Street Journal Jan 12, 2008, page 1 (US edition) by Michael Marx (marx@bbaw.de), Director of Research, Centre Corpus Coranicum (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften)

The lost archive, the myth of philology, and the study of the Qur’an
by Michael Marx

The belief in the myth that old manuscripts should be mysterious and powerful is part and parcel of the age of Modernity. That such expectations were operative in the discussion on the Qumran fragments is still remembered, and more recently the Da Vinci Code, in itself a quite shallow story, sold extremely well. The fact that the Wall Street Journal placed an article on the “lost Bergstrasser-film archive” of Qur’anic manuscripts on its front page on 12th of January seems to be due to the myth of “textual wars” taking place in the world. Labelled as a clash of civilizations or war of religions, conflicts today in the Middle East and Europe involving Christians, Muslims and Jews are likely to be perceived in isolation from their economical, social, or political preconditions. On September 12th 2001 a friend of mine bought a copy of the Qur’an in order to “understand what is going on”. Indeed, as if in the spirit of the protestant slogan of “sola scriptura” (= “through scripture only”), the idea of deciphering the software of “Muslim patterns of action” through the Sacred Book of Islam is tempting. As superficial as it may look, this very perception of the direct causal link between “what Muslims do” and passages of the Qur’an seems to be widespread. No article on the missing enlightenment in “Islam” without pointing to a still missing “but urgently needed” critical edition of the Qur’an. Almost no coverage on warfare in the Middle East and suicide bombings without the attempt to dig out passages from the Qur’an and pictures of praying and reciting Muslims. The cultural, social, and religious diversity of a whole region, the Middle East, that European and American history labels as the cradle of civilisation and the birthplace of Judaism and Islam appears transmuted into a “disturbing” monolithic religious monster. Continue reading Lost in the Lost Archive →

Politics of Piety: A Case Study in Cairo

Anthropology/Sociology, Books You Should Read, Egypt, Gender and Sexuality, Islamic Rituals, Islamic Texts


[In 2005 anthropologist Saba Mahmood published “Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject” (Princeton University Press). This important ethnography of the women’s mosque movement in Cairo not only presents an informative case study but challenges notions of how Muslim women’s involvement in pious movements should be analyzed in a feminist framework. The following excerpt is from the beginning of Mahmood’s book.]

Over the last two decades, a key question has occupied many feminist theorists: how should issues of historical and cultural specificity inform both the analytics and the politics of any feminist project? While this question has led to serious attempts at integrating issues of sexual, racial, class, and national difference within feminist theory, questions regarding religious difference have remained relatively unexplored. The vexing relationship between feminism and religion is perhaps most manifest in discussions of Islam. This is due in part to the historically contentious relationship that Islamic societies have had with what has come to be called “the West,” but also due to the challenges that contemporary Islamist movements pose to secular-liberal politics of which feminism has been an integral (if critical) part. The suspicion with which many feminists tended to view Islamist movements only intensified in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks launched against the United States and the immense groundswell of anti-Islamic sentiment that has followed since. If supporters of the Islamist movement were disliked before for their social conservatism and their rejection of liberal values (key among them ‘women’s freedom’), their now almost taken-for-granted association with terrorism has served to further reaffirm their status as agents of a dangerous irrationality. Continue reading Politics of Piety: A Case Study in Cairo →

The Girl of Qatif

Gender and Sexuality, Islamic Law, Qur'an, Saudi Arabia, Traditions (hadith literature)


Saudi judge ignores Quranic rights in harsh decision over the ‘Girl of Qatif’
By Khalid Chraibi
Arablife.org, Tuesday, 22 January 2008

In a memorable scene in Ingmar Bergman’s movie Wild Strawberries, Isak, the central character, dreams that he is standing in court, waiting to be sentenced. But he has no clue as to the charges against him. When the judge declares him guilty, he asks, bewildered: “Guilty of what?” The judge replies flatly: “You are guilty of guilt”. “Is that serious?” asks Isak. “Unfortunately,” replies the judge.

The verdict in the case of the ‘Girl of Qatif’, as the incident has become known worldwide, is as bewildering to most people as the judge’s verdict was to Isak. How can a young bride of 18 who has been subjected to the harrowing experience of being blackmailed by a former ‘telephone boyfriend’, then gang-raped 14 times in a row by seven unknown assailants, be further brought to trial for the offence of khalwa and condemned to 90 lashes? How does one justify raising the punishment to 200 lashes and 6 months in jail when she appealed the first sentence?

The case had all the necessary ingredients to become an instant cause célèbre, when word of it reached the global news agencies. It received very large coverage in the media, with the verdict being criticized by commentators, politicians and citizens in all walks of life, within the region and in far away countries.

Amnesty International protested against the flogging verdict (which was also applicable to the men involved in the case), observing that “the use of corporal punishment constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.” It added that “the criminalisation of khalwa is inconsistent with international human rights standards, in particular, an individual’s right to privacy.” The sentence against the ‘Girl of Qatif’ and the boy who sat with her in the car “should therefore be declared null and void”. Continue reading The Girl of Qatif →

Islam and Jesus

Islam and Christianity, Qur'an, Traditions (hadith literature)

An Opportunity to Discuss Our Knowledge of Mohammed and Jesus
by Dr. Zein Al Abdeen Al Rekabi, Asharq Alawsat, Tuesday 08 January 2008

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has urged Muslims to learn about Christian culture. This appeal, diplomatic as it is, is based on the assumption that Muslims are “ignorant” of Christianity, or at least know very little about it.

To begin with, we should welcome, and even accept any invitation to further our knowledge because, for the respectable and wise, it is a perpetual pursuit. Moreover, God has urged Muslims to know other peoples and nations and interact with them. This is explicit in the following verse: “Oh mankind! We created you male and female and divided you into tribes and nations, so that you may come to know each other,” (Surat al Hujurat 49:13). In this global human acquaintance and interaction endorsed by the Quran, learning of other nations’ cultures is a primary asset among others.

At the beginning of this commentary or discussion we present to the Archbishop a supreme truth: knowledge of Jesus son of Mary, and belief in him are integral to the Islamic faith, since they are pillars of the faith, and a Muslim’s faith is considered incomplete without it. What follows is verification from the Quran and Sunnah: Continue reading Islam and Jesus →

“Worse than Salman Rushdie”

Afghanistan, Qur'an

Afghan Koran distributor arrested
By Alix Kroeger
BBC News, Kabul

The distributor of a new translation of the Koran has been arrested after complaints from religious scholars that the new edition was un-Islamic.

Former journalist Ghows Zalmay is also the spokesman for Afghanistan’s attorney general.

He was arrested on the border on Sunday while trying to flee into Pakistan.

Demonstrators protested in two Afghan provinces against the new translation of the Koran into Dari, one of Afghanistan’s two official languages.

Religious scholars are outraged at the new edition of the Muslim holy book.

They say that it is un-Islamic, that it misinterprets verses about alcohol, begging, homosexuality and adultery. Continue reading “Worse than Salman Rushdie” →

This Split within Islam Must End

Qur'an, Shi'a, Sunni, Terrorism Issue

by Abdullah Al Rahim

What is it that makes people slaughter one another in the name of religion? Which among all these warriors can claim the integrity to dictate the terms by which God is to be venerated and who is to be slaughtered in God’s name? They call these sects Sunni and Shia. So I ask, which one of these post-Prophet innovations called sects did the holy Prophet Muhammad belong to? Which of these slaughters will he approve of, should he come back today?

We hear in mosques every time the word Bida’a [innovation] which is used to fight anything new we come up with, even if it is positive. So let me ask both, Sunnis and Shias: what are these sects? are they not innovations [Bida’a]? They are the most dangerous of all innovations which have never united but always divided the house of Islam. Continue reading This Split within Islam Must End →

The Prophet’s Medicine: Part Two

Islamic Sciences, Muhammad, Qur'an


[Illustration: Teaching Caesarean Birth, al-Biruni, (973-1051 CE)

THE MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC VIEW OF MAN

The Arabic books on the Prophet’s Medicine generally begin with an overview of the human constitution. Since this is far different than would be found in medical school today, it is important to understand the context in which statements about human health were made centuries ago. In describing man, seven parts of his “natural” being were distinguished. At the most fundamental level the human body was seen as a mixture of the four basic elements that defined the material world in classical science. These were fire (hot and dry), air (hot and wet), water (cold and wet) and earth (cold and dry). In this physical respect the human body was no different from other animals. And these were the same elements that were thought to make up everything material in the universe. Continue reading The Prophet’s Medicine: Part Two →

The Prophet’s Medicine: Part One

Islamic Sciences, Muhammad, Qur'an, Traditions (hadith literature)


[Illustration: Miniature illustrating the treatment of a patient, Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu. Jarrahiyatu’l-Hâniya. Millet Library, Ali Emiri, Tib 79.

In the 7th century Muhammad set in motion one of the world’s great religions, Islam. As an Arabian prophet, Muhammad spoke of the same God known to Jews and Christians for centuries. The message received by Muhammad, and revered today by over a billion Muslims, is contained in the Arabic Qur’an. Although the focus of this scripture is on the spiritual health of mankind, there are also numerous statements regarding physical health and emotional wellbeing. Muhammad himself often spoke regarding medicine and diet, and his words are accepted as authoritative only beneath the level of God’s revelation in the Qur’an. As Muslim scholars in later centuries encountered the medical traditions of classical Greece, Syriac tradition, and India, they compared this indigenous knowledge with the Qur’anic view of man and the prophet’s statements about health. Eventually, a specific literary genre called the “Prophet’s Medicine,” or al-tibb al-nabawi in Arabic, came into existence. In the texts of this genre Muslim scholars tried to merge the most accepted and current scientific knowledge about medicine with the folklore of Muhammad’s Arabia. Continue reading The Prophet’s Medicine: Part One →