Portal: Islamic Scriptures: Difference between revisions

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The idea of scripture is central to Islam; above all else, Islam's own scriptures tell of how [[Allah]] has periodically given his followers books throughout the ages, and refers to Islam's co-abrahamic religionists as [[People of the Book]]. The central scripture of Islam is above all the [[Qur'an]], which orthodox Sunni and Shi'i Islam see as the literal word of Allah through his messenger [[Muhammad]]. The Qur'an, however, leaves much to be desired when it comes to even the basics of the Islamic religion, let alone as a guide to all aspects of life. To fill in these gaps as it were, the hadith, narrations about the words and deeds attributed to the prophet are also important. On top of this a very important source is the [[sira]], the writings about the life of the prophet, and the [[tafsir]], learned commentary upon the Qur'an which leverages the other two extra-Quranic scriptures. Although the Qur'an itself is beyond reproach, the other three sources are subject to various degrees of trustworthiness, which have been defined throughout the ages by [[Portal: Traditional Islamic Scholars|the Islamic scholarly community]], The evaluation of hadith, sira, and tafsir for its trustworthiness constitutes a large part of the work done for the Islamic community by its scholars.


Islam has been defined by its scholars since the 8th century (the second Islamic century). The Arabic word عالم 'aalim means simply "one who knows" and it is also used in Arabic to refer to scientists and specialists in many fields of knowledge. In Islamic discourse the word usually refers to scholars of [[fiqh]] or Islamic law, although the word is also used to refer to the early scholars who gathered the stories of [[maghazi]] (raids) and [[hadith]] of the prophet. In classical times ulemaa such as [[Tabari]] were also knowledgeable in other fields such as philosophy, medicine, and world history, but as with most other fields modernity has forced the concentration of efforts, and modern Islamic scholars tend not to be polymaths. Included in this portal are modern scholars working inside the Islamic tradition, such as [[Yasir Qadhi]], but also modern scholar-preachers such as [[Zakir Naik]]. The scholars of the Shi'i tradition, although fulfilling many of the same roles as their Sunni counterparts, also have a more systematized, organized role in the context of the Shi'ite religious hierarchy, particularly in Iran where the state is currently fused to the Shi'ite clerical establishment.
==Qur'an==


== Qur'an==
The Qur'an is the holiest scripture of Islam; some Muslims, known as [[Quranism|Quranists]], claim to follow it and it alone (these Muslims are considered heretics by orthodox Sunni Muslims, inter alia). According to orthodox Sunni doctrine, it is the full, complete, unaltered word of Allah directly to his apostle Muhammad (Shi'ites claim that though the portion we have is untouched, Sunnis have cut out many chapters and verses which they did not want in the final Qur'an). As such its study is of great importance to Muslim scholars, and Muslim believers study it in their own time for their own spiritual growth. As the direct and literal word of Allah, orthodox Sunni Islam submits that the Qur'an is flawless in every way, from its "clear" Arabic to its claims about history and science. In addition to articles about the Qur'an, its contents, its history, and its interpretation, this section contains our [[Asbab al-Nuzul (Revelational Circumstances of the Quran)]] articles, which are a resource which gathers the various "revelational circumstances" of different verses in the Qur'an, in English translation, arranged by the order of the verses and chapters as they appear in the Qur'an.  
 
The scholars of the classical or pre-modern period played a tremendous role in defining what Islam would be for later generations. Many questions that Muslim scholars take for granted, such as the nature of the [[Quran]] vis-a-vis [[Allah]] or the place of reason or philosophy vis-a-vis revelation were settled in this period and remain more or less uncontested today.  


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{{PortalArticle|image=Quran_Mashaf_Comparisons.jpg|title=Textual History of the Qur'an|summary= The history of the Qur'an as a text comports in many way to the description we have of it in Islamic sources--although there are some discrepancies.|description=}} {{PortalArticle|image=Mariam and Isa Persian.jpg|title=Mary, Sister of Aaron|summary= The author(s) of surat-Maryam, the surah of Mary, seems to be under the mistaken impression that Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was also a sister of Aaron, the brother of Moses|description=}}{{PortalArticle|image=Quranvsscience.jpg|title=Scientific Errors in the Quran|summary= Sunni orthodoxy claims that the Qur'an is infallible when it speaks of matters of science, but a close comparison to the scientific undestanding of the text of the Qur'an to modern science shows many revealing mistakes|description=}} {{PortalArticle|image=Quran.PNG|title=Contradictions in the Quran|summary={{Quran|4|82}} makes the confident assertion: "Then do they not reflect upon the Qur'an? If it had been from [any] other than Allah, they would have found within it much contradiction."<BR />This article explains why critics argue that indeed, the Qur'an contains numerous contradictions.|description=}}
{{PortalArticle|image=Gazali_1.jpg|title=Al-Ghazali|summary= Al-Ghazali was a 9th century Islamic scholar who championed the "Islamic sciences" against the philosophy of the Greeks; in theology he was a famous Ash'ari and in fiqh he was a famous Shafi'i jurist|description=}} {{PortalArticle|image=Suyuti.jpg|title=Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti|summary= Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti was a 13th century Islamic scholar and jurist of the Shafi'i madhab, famous for his extremely influential tafsir. He also wrote on a wide variety of subjects and is sometimes called the most prolific writer of the Islamic tradition|description=}} {{PortalArticle|image=Ibn kathir.png|title=Ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi|summary= Ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi was a 12th century Islamic scholar of hadith. His tafsir is considered to be one of the most influential in modern Islamic theology and jurisprudence. He also wrote a work called the Israi'iliyaat about the biblical stories of the Jews.|description=}} {{PortalArticle|image=ibn taymiyyah.jpg|title=Ibn Taymiyyah|summary= Ibn Taymiyyah was an 11th and 12th century Islamic scholar known for his fierce defense of Sunni orthodoxy. Along with Ghazali he helped turn the intellectual tide against Greek philosophy in the Muslim wolrd and also called for [[jihad]] against the Mongols|description=}} {{PortalArticle|image=Tabari.PNG|title=Ibn Taymiyyah|summary= Tabari is one of the greatest scholars of the Islamic tradition; his tafsir and his sira of the prophet have a status of or close to scripture in the Islamic tradition. In addition to his historical works, he was jurist in the Shafi'i tradition.|description=}}
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{{PortalArticle|image=Sana'a1 Stanford '07 recto lowertext image.jpg|title=Sana'a Manuscript|summary= The majority of the manuscripts of the Qur'an which are today extant seem to be descended from the recension that was ordered created by the caliph [[Uthman]], and show a remarkable uniformity. However, a palimpset, or impression of an erased Qur'an manuscript, was found in the Yemeni city of Sana'a in the 1970s. It reveals a manuscript with some remarkable differences from the accepted Uthmanic recension|description=}} {{PortalArticle|image=Naskh.png|title=Naskh (Abrogation)|summary= Many verses in the Qur'an disagree with each other, sometimes on important points; the doctrine of Naskh explains which verses take precedence in any given conflict, and how this is decided by the scholars.|description=}}
 
{{PortalArticle|image=Asbabannuzul.png|title=Asbab al-Nuzul (Revelational Circumstances of the Quran)|summary= This special page is a series of resources for the English-speaking student, researcher or reader as opposed to an encyclopedia article. It contains all of the [[surah|suwar]] of the Qur'an along with the associated asbab al-nuzul or "revelational circumstances", explaining how the Islamic tradition sees the circumstances of each revelation.|description=}}
 
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===Other articles in this section===
===Other articles in this section===
*[[Ibn Qayyim]]
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*[[Ibn Rushd (Averroes)]]
*[[Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature]]
*[[Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi]]
*[[List of Abrogations in the Qur'an]]
*[[Diacritical Marks of the Qur'an]]
*[[Prophecies in the Quran]]
*[[Asbab al-Nuzul (Revelational Circumstances of the Quran)]]
*[[The Meaning of Islam]]
*[[The Meaning of Qatal]]
*[[The Meaning of Consummate]]
*[[Tadmeen]]
*[[Surah]]
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*[[Convenient Revelations]]
*[[Scientific Miracles in the Quran]]
*[[Revelation]]
*[[Iltifat]]
*[[Huruf Muqatta'at (Disjointed Letters in the Qur'an)]]
*[[Qur'anic Christology]]
*[[Jibreel (Gabriel) and al-Ruh al-Qudus (the Holy Spirit) in the Qur'an]]
*[[Al-Nurayn and Al-Wilaya]]
*[[Qur'an]]
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*[[Word Count Miracles in the Qur'an]]
*[[Zakah and blessing word count in the Qur'an]]
*[[Tongue and sermon word count in the Qur'an]]
*[[Sun and light word count in the Qur'an]]
*[[Shaytan and angel word count in the Qur'an]]
*[[Dunya and akhira word count in the Qur'an]]
*[[Iman and kufr word count in the Qur'an]]
*[[Land to water ratio miracle in the Qur'an]]
*[[Man and woman word count in the Qur'an]]
*[[Palindrome in the Quran Sura 74:3]]
*[[Word Count Miracles in the Qur'an]]
*[[Chronological Order of the Qur'an]]
*[[Spelling Inconsistencies in the Quran]]
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==Modern scholars==
==Hadith==
 
The modern period brought about a confrontation between modernity, and all of its attendant movements and ideas, and the scholars of Islam, whose background and basis is in the writings of men who lived in a civilization which was very sure of itself and unchallenged. As such, even the most reactionary Islamic scholars can be read as being in conversation with modernity, even if this conversation entails a wholesale rejection of the concept.


Orthodox Sunni and Shi'i Islam see the prophet as [[Uswa Hasana]], the perfect, "complete" man for all times and all cultures. As such the record of the prophet's words and deeds, the hadith, constitute the fundamental building block for Islamic [[fiqh]] in addition to the [[Qur'an]]. The hadith literature is truly vastly, including dozens of volumes by many different muhaddiths or hadith scholars.
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{{PortalArticle|image=Hamood bin Uqla Ash-Shu'aibi.jpg|title=Hamood bin Uqla Ash-Shu'aibi|summary=Hamood bin Uqla Ash-Shu'aibi was a hardcore salafi scholar who was quoted my Usama bin Laden and was influential in the jihad movement in the 21st century.|description=}}
{{PortalArticle|image=Sahih Bukhari.jpg|title=Sahih Bukhari|summary=Sahih Bukhari is the most esteemed collection of hadith, held second only to the Qur'an itself in the Sunni tradition in terms of authority. Put together by a central Asian scholar over 200 years after the death of the prophet, Sahih Bukhari contains only hadith which receive the highest level of approval from Sunni scholars. |description=}}
 
{{PortalArticle|image=Sahih.png|title=Sahih|summary= Sahih صحيح or "correct" is the highest level of trustworthiness that the Sunni tradition can assign to a particular hadith.|description=}}
{{PortalArticle|image=Muhammad_ibn_Abd_al-Wahhab.jpg|title=Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab|summary=Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab was an influential Islamic scholar in the Arabian peninsula during the early modern period. His thought was very influential on the salafi and takfiri schools of jihadi Islam was well as the Hanbali Islam of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.|description=}}
 
{{PortalArticle|image=Shaykh_Gibril.jpg|title=Gibril Haddad|summary=Gibril Haddad is an influential Beirut-born scholar of hadith as well as translator. He is a self-described opponent of "salafi fundamentalism."|description= }}
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{{PortalArticle|image=Glowy Universe.PNG|title=Scientific Errors in the Hadith|summary=Like the Qur'an, orthodox Sunni tradition holds that the words of the prophet were unerring on matters of science. Even many "sahih" hadith, though, betray a pre-modern understanding of natural world which clearly falls in line with ancient belief rather than the findings modern science.|description= }}
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{{PortalArticle|image=Tawaatur.png|title=Tawaatur|summary=Tawaatur is a designation given to hadith which are attested to by multiple chains of transmission, called isnaads (asaanid أسانيد in Arabic).|description= }}
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===Other articles in this section===
===Other articles in this section===
*[[Muhammad Qutb]]
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*[[Contradictions in the Hadith]]
*[[Sahih_Muslim]]
*[[Prophecies in the Hadith]]
*[[Sunan Abu Dawud]]
*[[Mawdu' (Fabricated Hadith)]]
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==Hadith==
==Sira==
 
The modern period has brought many challenges to the Muslim ummah which were not heavily considered by scholars of previous ages, including large Muslim populations living in otherwise non-Muslim governments and socieites in places like Europe and India. This has brought with it debate and competition for the minds and souls of the people in these societies, against other religions such as Christianity and the advance of atheism in the contemporary period. In order to meet this challenge, popular "dawah" preachers have arisen who have a style more familiar to protestant pastors and atheist preachers such as Christopher Hitchens, but who never the less hew to very traditional understandings of the Islamic tradition.


The sira, or life of the prophet, makes up the third cornerstone of Islamic scripture. The sira literature begins with the sirat rasul Allah, or Life of the Apostle of Allah by ibn Ishaq, which has not survived to the current day but which was retained by his student ibn Hisham and also partially in the history of the Islamic polymath [[Tabari]], and continued by other Islamic writers.
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{{PortalArticle|image=Sirat An-Nabi.PNG|title=Sirat Rasul Allah|summary=The sirat of ibn Ishaq is the earliest Islamic document now extant detailing the life of the prophet Muhammad in chronological order.|description=}}
{{PortalArticle|image=Dr_Zakir_Naik.jpg|title=Zakir Naik|summary=Zakir Naik is a popular Sunni preacher from India. His fiery defenses of Islam and his outreach to other religious groups such as atheists and Hindus have made him popular with many Muslim believers, but he has also stirred controversy with statements supportive of Usama bin Laden and terrorism.|description=}}
 
 
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===Other articles in this section===
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*[[The History of al-Tabari]]
*[[The Farewell Sermon]]
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==Sira==
==Tafsir==


Shi'i scholar belong to a different tradition than their Sunni counterparts. Thanks to the doctrine of vilayet-e-figh in Iran, many Shi'ite clerics also hold important roles in the contemporary Iranian government
The tafsir تفسير literally "explanation" is a genre of Islamic literature which explains the Qur'an, drawing on multiple traditions such as the stories of the Israelis (Israeliyyaat), the hadith and the sira.


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{{PortalArticle|image=Ali_Meshkini01.jpg|title=Ali Meshkini|summary=ِAli Meshkini is a high-ranking Shi'i cleric and member and chairman of the Assembly of Experts which picks the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.|description=}}
{{PortalArticle|image=Tafsir ibn Kathir.jpg|title=Tafsir|summary=ِThe tafsir literature is essential to the orthodox Sunni understanding of the Qur'an, and forms a fourth source of scripture for orthodox Sunni Muslims.|description=}}
 
{{PortalArticle|image=Khameini.jpg|title=Imam Khamenei|summary=Ali Khamenei is an ayatollah in the Shi'i scholarly tradition and the current supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran|description=}}
 
==Tafsir==
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==All Articles==
 
<div class="simpleborder" style="float:right;">[[Image:Hubsymbol.png|50px|link=Category:Hub Page]]</div>
 
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* [[Al-Ghazali]]
* [[Ali Meshkini]]
* [[Gibril Haddad]]
* [[Hamood bin Uqla Ash-Shu'aibi]]\
* [[Ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi]]
* [[Ibn Qayyim]]
* [[Ibn Rushd (Averroes)]]
* [[Ibn Taymiyyah]]
* [[Imam Khamenei]]
* [[Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti]]
* [[Muhammad bin Jarir Al-Tabari]]
* [[Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab]]
* [[Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi]]
* [[Muhammad Qutb]]
* [[Zakir Naik]]
 
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Latest revision as of 15:59, 9 June 2023

The idea of scripture is central to Islam; above all else, Islam's own scriptures tell of how Allah has periodically given his followers books throughout the ages, and refers to Islam's co-abrahamic religionists as People of the Book. The central scripture of Islam is above all the Qur'an, which orthodox Sunni and Shi'i Islam see as the literal word of Allah through his messenger Muhammad. The Qur'an, however, leaves much to be desired when it comes to even the basics of the Islamic religion, let alone as a guide to all aspects of life. To fill in these gaps as it were, the hadith, narrations about the words and deeds attributed to the prophet are also important. On top of this a very important source is the sira, the writings about the life of the prophet, and the tafsir, learned commentary upon the Qur'an which leverages the other two extra-Quranic scriptures. Although the Qur'an itself is beyond reproach, the other three sources are subject to various degrees of trustworthiness, which have been defined throughout the ages by the Islamic scholarly community, The evaluation of hadith, sira, and tafsir for its trustworthiness constitutes a large part of the work done for the Islamic community by its scholars.

Qur'an

The Qur'an is the holiest scripture of Islam; some Muslims, known as Quranists, claim to follow it and it alone (these Muslims are considered heretics by orthodox Sunni Muslims, inter alia). According to orthodox Sunni doctrine, it is the full, complete, unaltered word of Allah directly to his apostle Muhammad (Shi'ites claim that though the portion we have is untouched, Sunnis have cut out many chapters and verses which they did not want in the final Qur'an). As such its study is of great importance to Muslim scholars, and Muslim believers study it in their own time for their own spiritual growth. As the direct and literal word of Allah, orthodox Sunni Islam submits that the Qur'an is flawless in every way, from its "clear" Arabic to its claims about history and science. In addition to articles about the Qur'an, its contents, its history, and its interpretation, this section contains our Asbab al-Nuzul (Revelational Circumstances of the Quran) articles, which are a resource which gathers the various "revelational circumstances" of different verses in the Qur'an, in English translation, arranged by the order of the verses and chapters as they appear in the Qur'an.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Textual History of the Qur'an

The history of the Qur'an as a text comports in many way to the description we have of it in Islamic sources--although there are some discrepancies.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Mary, Sister of Aaron

The author(s) of surat-Maryam, the surah of Mary, seems to be under the mistaken impression that Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was also a sister of Aaron, the brother of Moses

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Scientific Errors in the Quran

Sunni orthodoxy claims that the Qur'an is infallible when it speaks of matters of science, but a close comparison to the scientific undestanding of the text of the Qur'an to modern science shows many revealing mistakes

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Contradictions in the Quran

Quran 4:82 makes the confident assertion: "Then do they not reflect upon the Qur'an? If it had been from [any] other than Allah, they would have found within it much contradiction."
This article explains why critics argue that indeed, the Qur'an contains numerous contradictions.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Sana'a Manuscript

The majority of the manuscripts of the Qur'an which are today extant seem to be descended from the recension that was ordered created by the caliph Uthman, and show a remarkable uniformity. However, a palimpset, or impression of an erased Qur'an manuscript, was found in the Yemeni city of Sana'a in the 1970s. It reveals a manuscript with some remarkable differences from the accepted Uthmanic recension

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Naskh (Abrogation)

Many verses in the Qur'an disagree with each other, sometimes on important points; the doctrine of Naskh explains which verses take precedence in any given conflict, and how this is decided by the scholars.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Asbab al-Nuzul (Revelational Circumstances of the Quran)

This special page is a series of resources for the English-speaking student, researcher or reader as opposed to an encyclopedia article. It contains all of the suwar of the Qur'an along with the associated asbab al-nuzul or "revelational circumstances", explaining how the Islamic tradition sees the circumstances of each revelation.

Other articles in this section

Hadith

Orthodox Sunni and Shi'i Islam see the prophet as Uswa Hasana, the perfect, "complete" man for all times and all cultures. As such the record of the prophet's words and deeds, the hadith, constitute the fundamental building block for Islamic fiqh in addition to the Qur'an. The hadith literature is truly vastly, including dozens of volumes by many different muhaddiths or hadith scholars.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Sahih Bukhari

Sahih Bukhari is the most esteemed collection of hadith, held second only to the Qur'an itself in the Sunni tradition in terms of authority. Put together by a central Asian scholar over 200 years after the death of the prophet, Sahih Bukhari contains only hadith which receive the highest level of approval from Sunni scholars.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Sahih

Sahih صحيح or "correct" is the highest level of trustworthiness that the Sunni tradition can assign to a particular hadith.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Scientific Errors in the Hadith

Like the Qur'an, orthodox Sunni tradition holds that the words of the prophet were unerring on matters of science. Even many "sahih" hadith, though, betray a pre-modern understanding of natural world which clearly falls in line with ancient belief rather than the findings modern science.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Tawaatur

Tawaatur is a designation given to hadith which are attested to by multiple chains of transmission, called isnaads (asaanid أسانيد in Arabic).

Other articles in this section

Sira

The sira, or life of the prophet, makes up the third cornerstone of Islamic scripture. The sira literature begins with the sirat rasul Allah, or Life of the Apostle of Allah by ibn Ishaq, which has not survived to the current day but which was retained by his student ibn Hisham and also partially in the history of the Islamic polymath Tabari, and continued by other Islamic writers.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Sirat Rasul Allah

The sirat of ibn Ishaq is the earliest Islamic document now extant detailing the life of the prophet Muhammad in chronological order.

Other articles in this section

Tafsir

The tafsir تفسير literally "explanation" is a genre of Islamic literature which explains the Qur'an, drawing on multiple traditions such as the stories of the Israelis (Israeliyyaat), the hadith and the sira.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
Tafsir

ِThe tafsir literature is essential to the orthodox Sunni understanding of the Qur'an, and forms a fourth source of scripture for orthodox Sunni Muslims.

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