Summary of Stephen R. Prothero's God Is Not One

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 Islam is often seen as a religion of terror, and for many Europeans and North Americans, that is all they know about it. But Islam is much more than that, and it should be seen as such.
#2 Islam is the path of submission, and Muslims are submitters who seek peace in this life and the next by surrendering themselves to the one true God. They do this first and foremost by prostrating themselves in prayer.
#3 Muslims have heeded the call to prayer going out from mosques and minarets for more than a millennium. This invitation, the adhan, is usually done in Arabic because according to Muslims, it was in Arabic that God delivered his final revelation, the Quran, to his final prophet, Muhammad.
#4 Islam is the second largest religion in the world, and it is followed by over one billion people, roughly one fifth of the world’s population. Islam is typically classified as a Western religion, but it predominates in Asian countries such as Indonesia, India, and Pakistan.

Sujets

• Religion
• Comparative religion
• Islam

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 21 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669356134
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Stephen Prothero's God Is Not One
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Islam is often seen as a religion of terror, and for many Europeans and North Americans, that is all they know about it. But Islam is much more than that, and it should be seen as such.

#2

Islam is the path of submission, and Muslims are submitters who seek peace in this life and the next by surrendering themselves to the one true God. They do this first and foremost by prostrating themselves in prayer.

#3

Muslims have heeded the call to prayer going out from mosques and minarets for more than a millennium. This invitation, the adhan, is usually done in Arabic because according to Muslims, it was in Arabic that God delivered his final revelation, the Quran, to his final prophet, Muhammad.

#4

Islam is the second largest religion in the world, and it is followed by over one billion people, roughly one fifth of the world’s population. Islam is typically classified as a Western religion, but it predominates in Asian countries such as Indonesia, India, and Pakistan.

#5

Muslims respond to the adhan in different ways. Some ignore it, while others heed it when the mood strikes. But the observant stop cooking and driving and working to step into sacred time at dawn, noon, midafternoon, sunset, and night.

#6

In Islam, the path to Paradise is paved with both faith and works. But it is action that divides these two groups: those who perform the prayer and expend of what God has provided them, those in truth are the believers.

#7

The central pillar supporting this building is the Shahadah, which is the profession of faith: I testify that there is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God. Muslims are also required to give charity, observe Ramadan, and go on pilgrimage to Mecca.

#8

The term jihad is used in many religions to describe the struggle against pride and self-sufficiency, but it is also used to describe the physical struggle against the house of war – enemies of Islam.

#9

Allah is the Arabic word for God, and Muslims believe that God is singular. They believe that any practice or belief that ignores the unity and uniqueness of God is shirk.

#10

While Christianity has more followers than Islam, Muhammad was ranked number one in the book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. This was controversial, as Muhammad did more for Islam than Jesus did for Christianity.

#11

Islam dates its origins from the hijra, the emigration from Mecca to Yathrib, now known as Medina, in 622. The Muslim community was formed in this year, and the religion spread quickly across the Arabian Peninsula. By 750, Muslims had extended their reach to the Aral Sea and the Silk Road city of Samarkind.

#12

The Quran is the perfect, unaltered, and untranslatable word of God, written down only after Muhammad’s death. It is recited in Arabic, and Muslims believe that the Torah of Moses and the gospel of Jesus were revealed by Allah through His prophets.

#13

Islam is a way of life as well as a religion. It emphasizes life after death, and it warns its followers not to forget their radical dependence on God.

#14

The Quran differs from the New Testament in that it does not have any teachings about original sin or a savior who died and saved humanity. The Quran does, however, contain passages that seem to indicate that Jews and Christians will go to hell if they do not convert to Islam.

#15

The Quran is also full of fear mongering, as it constantly warns its readers of the punishments awaiting them in Hell if they do not repent, and it constantly warns its readers of the horrors awaiting them if they are unbelievers.

#16

I was shocked to read so much God-fearingness in the Quran. I had been conditioned to turn down the volume when Jesus speaks of casting whole cities into hell, and I no longer see the lake of fire as vividly as did Michelangelo in The Last Judgment.

#17

Some readers may be upset by the passages in the Qur’an that tell Muslims to forgo non-Muslim friends. Some Muslims argue that these passages do not refer to modern-day friendships at all but to patron/client relationships of mutual protection.

#18

Islam’s legal dimension is its most important aspect. Shariah, which is law, has been adopted in some measure in recent years in Iran, Sudan, and other Islamic countries. Fiqh, or interpretation of Shariah, is based on both the Quran and the Hadith.

#19

A fatwa is a legal opinion issued by a jurist. It is only valid if the audience recognizes the authority of the jurist who issued it. Bin Laden’s fatwas were not recognized by most Muslims.

#20

Islam is a broad church, with fundamentalists and progressives, legalists and mystics, progressives and moderates. The most basic division in the Muslim world is between Sunnis, who support Abu Bakr as Muhammad’s successor, and Shias, who support the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali.

#21

The Shia religion is based around the martyrdom of Muhammad’s grandson Husain at Karbala in Iraq in 680 C. E. This time-turning event is remembered each year during the Muslim month of Muharram.

#22

Islamism is a radical form of politicized Islam that took the martyr tradition developed by Jews and adapted by Christians in a deadly new direction. It seeks to create Islamic states following its idiosyncratic version of Islamic law.

#23

Salafism, the most extreme form of Islam, has spread globally in the early twenty-first century as Saudi money has flowed into new mosques worldwide. Wahhabism, the official theology of Saudi Arabia, is based on the strict teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, who opposed innovation but was obsessed with the problem of shirk.

#24

Progressive Islam is a new movement that primarily exists in Europe and the United States. It is staunchly opposed to Salafism, Wahhabism, and Islamism, but it also critiques colonialism and imperialism.

#25

There are hundreds of millions of moderate Muslims around the world, and they typically favor democracy and the separation of mosque and state. They reject religious coercion and believe that their religion is compatible with other religions.

#26

The world’s religions are not what they teach or what they do, but what they are. They are traditions of people who look beneath the surface of the Nicene Creed or the Five Pillars to something that is far more deeply interfused.

#27

Islam, the religion of Muhammad, completely rejects the Christian traditions of celibacy, asceticism, and monasticism. Muslims also find it strange that Jesus remained single.

#28

Inside the Muslim world, Sufis have been known to flirt with idolatry by imagining their spiritual quest as culminating in an annihilation of the self that is also a mystical union with God. While other Muslims emphasize the radical qualitative distinction between God and human beings, Sufis emphasize the ways in which human beings resemble God.