The Dawn of Islamic Literalism

My motivation for writing it is to provide a one-stop introduction for people who want to know more about Islamic Literalism. Many people unfamiliar with this subject matter can be easily confused by the meaning of Qur’anic verses or seek context for these verses in order to understand the motivation of Islamic Literalists. The Qur’an was not constructed in terms of chronology. It was constructed in terms of surah (“chapter”) length. The longest surahs are found in the front of the Qur’an and the shortest surahs are found in the back of the Qur’an. In brief, the Qur’an goes from the longest to shortest surah. The Sirah, Hadith, and History of Al-Tabari are needed to help place the Qur’an in a chronological sequence. These sources provide a great aid to Westerners who tend to be linear in their thought process. It is quite difficult to read a text that does not have a sense of chronology. Without chronology, it is extremely difficult to understand how these events are connected. These books, excluding the Qur’an, include the words and deeds of Muhammad and his early followers. Only the Qur’an surpasses these works in importance to Muslims, although all are considered either holy writ and/or authoritative by most Muslims.

Arguably the most important authoritative book in Islam, the Sirah, is the biography of Muhammad. It was written by Ibn Ishaq, who died in 773 AD. Ibn Hisham, who died in 834 AD, was an understudy of Ibn Ishaq. Ibn Hisham left evidence that he edited Ishaq’s original work.

Hisham’s work was translated into English by Alfred Guillaume in 1955. Today, it is known as The Life of Muhammad. A number of Muslim scholars and scribes contributed hadith, which is a saying or action attributed to the Prophet. The most widely used hadith among the Muslim community are the Al-Kutub Al-Sittah (“The Six Books” or “The Authentic Six”) which includes: (1) Sahih Bukhari, (2) Sahih Muslim, (3) Sunan an-Nasa’i, (4) Sunan Abu Dawud, (5) Jami’ at-Tirmidhi, and (6) Sunan Ibn Majah. Muhammad Ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, the author of Sahih Bukhari, and his student, Muslim Ibn al-Hajjaj, the author of Sahih Muslim, are the two most famous providers of hadith.(3) These hadith are usually arranged by topic rather than chronology and they describe what is halal (“acceptable”) and haram (“forbidden”).(8) Muhammad’s words and deeds are his Sunnah (“traditions”).(9) Sunnis accept all of it, Shi’ites accept most of it. Abu Muhammad bin al-Tabari, who died in 923 AD, wrote an epic account from the creation of man to the life of Muhammad, including the history of the Caliphs. His work was constructed from 870–920 AD. One will notice that these sources sometimes provide diverse accounts of the same events and at other times, al-Tabari in particular, quotes directly from earlier sources. Some Islamic scholars claim when comparing these traditions with one another there seems to be a lack of continuity.(10)

Muhammad and his early followers are made known through the words in these books. The intent of the Qur’an was to disclose the will of Allah as it escaped from the mouth of Muhammad. For these reasons, only the Qur’an surpasses the Sunnah in importance to Muslims, but all are considered authoritative and binding by most Muslims.(11) Allah speaks through Muhammad in the Qur’an and Allah acts through Muhammad in the Sunnah.(12) The verses from the authoritative texts of Islam, the Qur’an and the Sunnah (i.e., the Sirah, the Hadith, and the History of Al-Tabari), when read and applied literally, advocate radical Islamic “peace.” However, this is not peace as Westerners understand it. Peace, as defined by Islamic Literalists, means the end of opposition to Allah’s Will, Allah’s Prophet, and Allah’s Law.

The goal of this book is to accurately reflect the generally accepted Islamic texts in order to portray the original intent. This will be done by placing the Qur’anic text in the most likely chronological order, according to the most authoritative sources, along with corresponding passages from the Sirah, Hadith, and History of Al-Tabari. Since this book is written for Western readers, it is written in a style that should be easy to follow, while conveying Islamic ideology as derived by Islamic Literalists. The Qur’anic style has a circular structure that places its emphasis on the points being conveyed not the historical sequence of events. The Sirah and History of Al-Tabari are essential aids in determining the proper chronology of the Qur’an.

Each chapter in this book will represent a period of time. Within each chapter, numerous sections of the Qur’an will be presented which correspond to a specific grouping of years. Every one of these sections will consist of five segments: (1) Scripture; (2) Preface; (3) Surah; (4) Sunnah; and (5) Summation. The “Scripture” segment will list all of the scripture that is quoted in each section. The “Preface” segment will be a compilation of statements made by Maulana Muhammad Ali in his English translation of the Holy Qur’an and by Mohammad Marmaduke Pickthall from The Meaning of the Glorious Koran. The “Surah” segment will consist of verses from the Qur’an that correspond to the Preface. It must also be mentioned that not all sources are convinced that the Qur’an came from Muhammad. Some feel that it was compiled by others in the first two centuries of Islam.(13) The “Sunnah” segment contains quotes from the Sirah, Hadith, and History of Tabari that correspond to the Surah. Finally, in each section, there will be a summation. The “Summation” segment will be divided into two parts. (1) The first part will be an explanation of the Islamic Literalist point of view, which will be labeled with the designator IL,, or Islamic Literalist; and (2) The second part will be a critical analysis of the Islamic material presented which will be labeled with the designator WA, or Western Analysis. The summation in each section will strive to discern the bottom line or meaning of each surah and its corresponding hadith.