Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

DUAS AT DAYBREAK AND SUNSET

Be it known to you - may Allah grant you His support - that the traditions about the merits of doing acts of worship at the two hours of daybreak and sunset are too many to be counted. Likewise, too many are the litanies and supplicatory prayers that have been reported from the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) and his Household (a.s.) to be said at these two times. However, I will mention in this brief book a few of them, seeking blessings of Almighty Allah.

First: Ibn Baabwayh has reported through a valid chain of authority that Imam AliAmeer al-Momineen(a.s.) said, “He who recites Surah al-Tawheed, Surah al-Qadr, and Ayah al-Kursi before sunrise eleven times, his property will be protected against any feared matter.”

He (a.s.) is also reported to have said, “Whoever recites Surah al-Tawheed and Surah al-Qadr before sunrise, will be saved from sinning on that day even Satan exerts all efforts to make him commit a sin.”

Second: Al-Kulayni, Ibn Baabwayh, Shaykh al-Tusi, and other scholars have reported through valid chains of authority that Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) said: It is obligatory upon every Muslim to say the following litany ten times before sunrise and before sunset every day:

لا اِلهَ اِلا اللّهُ وَحْدَهُ لاشَريكَ لَهُ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَ لَهُ الْحَمْدُ يُحْيى وَ يُميتُ وَ هُوَ حَىُّ لايَمُوتُ بِيَدِهِ الْخَيْرُ وَ هُوَ عَلى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَديرٌ

According to some narrations, the following statement is added to this litany:

يحيى و يميت‏ و يميت و يحيى

The following statement was mentioned in some narrations and missed in others:

و هو حى لا يموت بيده الخير

Apparently, whatever form is said is acceptable although it is more acceptable to say the most comprehensive form.

Confirming the significance of this litany, some narrations hold that if you miss saying this litany at these times, you may make up for it later on, because, on the word of other narrations, it remits from sins.

Third: Ibn Baabwayh and other scholars have reported through many chain of authority that Imam Ali ibn al-Husayn and Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) said, “He who repeats the Takbir statement (i.e. Allahu-akbar) one hundred times at sunset will be given the reward of one who has manumitted one hundred slaves.”

According to another authentic narration, Imam al-Baqir (a.s.) is reported to have said: He who repeats the Takbir statement one hundred times before sunrise and one hundred times before sunset, Almighty Allah will record for him the reward of one who has manumitted one hundred slaves; and he who repeats the following doxology ten times, will be granted by Allah ten rewards. If he repeats it more, he will be granted more rewards:

سبحان اللّه‏ و بحمده

Fourth: Through a valid chain of authority, Ibn Baabwayh reports Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) to have quoted the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) as saying: In Paradise, there are chambers whose inside can be seen from their outside and whose outside can be seen from their inside. These chambers are dwelled by some of my people who speak good wording, serve food (generously), exchange greetings, and pray at night when the others are asleep. To speak good wording means to repeat the following doxology ten times every morning and evening:

سبحان اللّه و الحمد للّه و لا اله الاّ اللّه و اللّه اكبر

In the book of al-Mahasin, al-Barqi has reported through an authentic chain of authority that Imam al-Baqir (a.s.) related the following:

One day, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) passed by a man who was sowing a plant in his orchard. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) stopped and said to him, “May I lead you to a thing that is firmer in sowing, quicker in yielding, and sweeter in fruit?”

“Yes,” the man answered, “You may, Allah’s Messenger.”

The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) instructed:

“In every morning and evening, you may say the following:

سبحان اللّه و الحمد للّه و لا اله الاّ اللّه و اللّه اكبر

If you do, for each statement you will be given trees in Paradise from various kinds of fruits. These statements are the ever-abiding, good deeds about which Almighty Allah has said in His Book that they are best and more enduring than the wealth of this world.”

Fifth: Ibn Baabwayh has reported though a valid chain of authority that Imam Ali(a.s.) said:

Whoever repeats these verses three times before or after evening, will not miss any good item on that day, and will be saved from all evils. The same reward will be for one who repeats them in the morning:

فَسُبْحانَ اللّهِ حينَ تَمْسُونَ وَ حينَ تُصْبِحُونَ وَ لَهُ الْحَمْدُ فِى السَّمواتِ وَالاَرْضِ وَ عَشِيّاً وَ حينَ تُظْهِرُونَ

Sixth: In the book of al-Mahasin, al-Barqi has reported through an authenticated chain of authority that Imam al-Rida(a.s.) said: Whoever repeats the following litany three times in the morning and in the evening must not fear any devil, despotic ruler, leprosy, or mycobacterium. As for me, I repeat it one hundred times:

بسم اللّه الرّحمن الرّحيم لا حول و لا قوّة الاّ باللّه

The same litany has been previously cited to be repeated seven times after the Dawn and the Evening Prayers.

Seventh: Through a valid chain of authority, Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) is reported to have related that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) had missed one of Ansar (people of al-Madinah who gave shelter and supported the Holy Prophet and the earlier Muslims). When the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) met him afterwards, he asked, “What kept you away from us?”

The man answered, “It was poverty and long disease, Allah’s Messenger.”

The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) said, “May I teach you some words that remove poverty and disease away from you?”

“Yes,” the man answered, “You may, Allah’s Messenger.”

The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) thus said: In mornings and evenings, you may say:

لا حَوْلَ وَلاقُوَّةَ اِلاّ بِاللّهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ عَلَى الْحَىِّ الَّذى لايَمُوتُ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ الَّذى لَمْ يَتَّخِذْ وَلَداً وَ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ شَريكٌ فِى الْمُلْكِ وَ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ وَلِىُّ مِنَ الذُّلِّ وَ كَبِّرْهُ تَكْبيراً.

Eighth: In many validly reported traditions, Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) is reported to have said: Repeat the following guard-seeking prayer ten times before sunrise and before sunset:

اَعُوذُ بِاللّهِ السَّميعِ الْعَليمِ مِنْ هَمَزاتِ الشَّياطينِ وَ اَعُوذُ بِاللّهِ اَنْ يَحْضُرُونِ اِنَّ اللّهَ هُوَ السَّميعُ الْعَليمُ

According to some narrations, the third statement is reported in this form:

اعوذ بكّ ربّ‏ ان يحضرون

Other narrations have reported this guard-seeking prayer as follows:

استعيذ باللّه السّميع من الشّيطان الرّجيم و اعوذ باللّه ان يحضرون‏

Ninth: In the book of Falah al-Sa’il, Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) is reported to have said:

What prevents you from saying the following supplicatory prayer three times every morning and three times every evening?

اَللّهُمَّ مُقَلِّبَ الْقُلُوبِ وَالاَبْصارِ ثَبِّتْ قَلْبى عَلى دينِكَ وَلاتُزِغْ قَلْبى بَعْدَ اِذْ هَدَيتَنى وَهَبْ لى مِنْ لَدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْوَهّابُ وَاءَجِرْنى مِنَ النّارِ بِرَحْمَتِكَ اَللّهُمَّ امْدُدْلى فى عُمْرى وَ اَوْسِعْ عَلَىَّ فى رِزْقى وَانْشُرْ عَلَىَّ مِنْ رَحْمَتِكَ وَ اِنْ كُنْتُ عِنْدَكَ فى اُمِّ الْكِتابِ شَقِيّاً فَاجْعَلْنى سَعيداً فَاِنَّكَ تَمْحُوما تَشآءُ وَ تُثْبِتُ وَ عِنْدَكَ اُمُّ الْكِتابِ.

Tenth: Al-Tusi, may Allah have mercy upon him, and Ibn Tawus report the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) as saying: Whoever says this word of glorification one time in the morning and one time in the evening, Almighty Allah sends an angel to Paradise with a silver shovel. The angel then gathers some clay of Paradise, which is sweet smelling musk, fixes a plant, surrounds it with a fence, places a door on it, and writes on the door that this plant is for so-and-so (i.e. writes the name of that person on the door):

سبحان اللّه و بحمد سبحان اللّه العظيم

In another validly reported tradition, Sayyid Ibn Tawus reports Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) to have said that whoever says the aforesaid doxology intending to glorify Almighty Allah but not to express amazement, Almighty Allah will erase one thousand of his sins, record for him one thousand rewards, decide for him one thousand rights of intercession, raise him one thousand ranks, and creates from these words a white bird uttering these words of glorification continuously up to the Resurrection day and the reward of the bird’s glorification words will be recorded for that person.

Eleventh: Al-Qutb al-Rawandi has reported that Imam AliAmeer al-Momineen(a.s.) quoted the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) as saying: He who begins his day without mentioning the following four graces, I fear lest he will lose the bliss he is enjoying:

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ الَّذى عَرَّفنى نَفْسَهُ وَ لَمْ يَتْرُكْنى عَمْيانَ الْقَلْبِ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ الَّذى جَعَلَنى مِنْ اُمَّةِ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ الَّذى جَعَلَ رِزْقى فى يَدَيْهِ وَ لَمْ يَجْعَلْ رِزْقى فى اَيْدى النّاسِ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ الَّذى سَتَرَ ذُ نُوبى وَ عُيُوبى فَلَمْ يَفْضَحْنى بَيْنَ الْخَلايِقِ

Twelfth: In the book of al-Balad al-Amin, it is reported that Salman the Persian, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

Any servant who repeats the following doxology three times in the morning, Almighty Allah will most surely fend off seventy kinds of afflictions, the easiest of which is distress, from him:

اَلْحَمْدُلِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعالَمينَ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ حَمْداً كَثيراً طَيِّباً مُباركاً فيهِ

Thirteenth: Through a valid chain of authority, al-Kulayni reports Imam al-Baqir (a.s.) to have said: In the morning, you may say the following litany:

اَصْبَحْتُ بِاللّهِ مُؤمِناً عَلى دينِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَسُنَّتِهِ وَدينِ عَلِي وَ سُنَّتِهِ وَ دينِ الاَوصِيآءِ وَ سُنَّتِهِمْ آمَنْتُ بِسِّرِهِمْ وَ عَلانِيَتِهِمْ وَ شاهِدِهِمْ وَ غاَّئِبِهِمْ وَ اَعُوذُ بِاللّهِ مِمَّا اسْتَعاذَ مِنْهُ رَسُولُ اللّهِ صَلَّى اللّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ وَ عَلِىُّ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ وَالاَوْصيآءُ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّلامُ وَاَرْغَبُ اِلَى اللّهِ فيما رَغِبُوا اِلَيْهِ وَلاحَوْلَ وَلاقُوَّةَ اِلاّ بِاللّهِ.

Fourteenth: Al-Kulayni has reported that Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) mentioned many merits for saying the following doxology in the first hour of morning before sunrise:

اَللّهُ اَكْبَرُ اَللّهُ اَكْبَرُ كَبيراً وَ سُبْحانَ اللّهِ بُكْرَةً وَ اَصيلاً وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ رَبِّ الْعالَمينَ كَثيراً لاشريكَ لَهُ وَ صَلَّى اللّهُ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِهِ

Fifteenth: In the book of al-Balad al-Amin, Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) is reported to have said: No tribulation will afflict one who repeats this litany three times in the morning until evening, and no tribulation will afflict him who repeats it three times in the evening until the next morning:

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الَّذى لايَضُرُّ مَعَ اِسْمِهِ شَىْءٌ فِى الاَرْضِ وَلا فِى السَّمآءِ وَ هُوَ السَّميعُ الْعَليمُ

Sixteenth: Al-Kulayni, Ibn Baabwayh, and other scholars have reported through authenticated and valid chains of authority that Imam al-Baqir (a.s.) says: Prophet Noah (a.s.) was described as most grateful servant (indication of Qur’an, 17:3), because he used to say the following doxology every morning and evening:

اَللّهُمَّ اِنّى اُشْهِدُكَ اَنَّهُ ما اَمْسى وَ اَصْبَحَ بى مِنْ نِعْمَةٍ اَو عافِيَةٍ فى دينٍ اَوْ دُنْيا فَمِنْكَ وَحْدَكَ لاشَريكَ لَكَ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ وَ لَكَ الشُّكْرُ بِها عَلَىَّ حَتّى تَرْضى اِلهَنا.

According to other narrations, Prophet Noah (a.s.) used to repeat the following doxology ten times every morning and evening:

اَللّهُمَّ اِنَّهُ ما اَصْبَحَ بى مِنْ نِعْمَةٍ اَوْ عافِيَةٍ فى دينٍ اَوْ دُنْيا فَمِنْكَ وَحْدَكَ لاشَريكَ لَكَ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ وَ لَكَ الشُّكْرُ بِها عَلَىَّ حَتّى تَرْضى وَ بَعْدَ الرِّضا

However, to say any of the two doxological formulas is good.

DUA FOR SAFETY FROM ALL BEASTS, EVILS OF SATAN, THIEVES & DEMONS

Seventeenth: Al-Kulayni and al-Barqi have reported through valid chains of authority that Imam al-Sadiq and Imam al-Kazim (a.s.) said: When evening falls and you look at the sun setting and falling, you may say the following words, because they secure you from all beasts, from the evils of Satan the accursed and his offspring, from whatever bites and stings, and from thieves and demons:

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ اَلْحَمْدُلِلّهِ الَّذى لَمْ يَتّخِذْ وَلَداً وَ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ شَريكٌ فِى الْمُلْكِ وَالْحَمْدُلِلَّهِ الَّذى يَصِفُ وَلا يُوصَفُ وَ يَعْلَمُ وَلايُعْلَمُ يَعْلَمُ خآئِنَةَ الاَعْيُنِ وَ ما تُخْفِى الصُّدُورُ وَ اَعُوذُ بِوَجْهِاللّٰهِ الْكَريمِ وَ بِاسْمِاللّٰهِ الْعَظيمِ مِنْ شَرِّ ما ذَرَءَ وَ بَرَءَ وَ مِنْ شَرِّ ما تَحْتَ الثَّرى وَ مِنْ شَرِّ ما ظَهَرَ وَ ما بَطَنَ وَ مِنْ شَرِّ ما كانَ فِى اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهارِ وَ مِنْ شَرِّ اَبى قِتْرَةَ وَ ما وَلَدَ وَ مِن شَرِّ الرَّسيسِ وَ مِنْ شَرِّ ما وَصَفْتُ وَ ما لَمْ اَصِفْ وَالْحَمْدُلِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعالَمينَ

Eighteenth: Al-Kulayni has reported through a valid chain of authority that Imam al-Baqir (a.s.) said: Whoever prays Almighty Allah with this supplicatory prayer in the morning will not be afflicted by any harm on that day, and whoever says it in the evening will not be afflicted by any harm at that night, Allah willing:

اَللّهُمَّ اِنّى اَصْبَحْتُ فى ذِمَّتِكَ وَ جِوارِكَ اَللّهُمَّ اِنّى اَسْتَوْدِعُكَ دينى وَ نَفْسى وَ دُنْياىَ وَ آخِرَتى وَ اَهْلى وَ مالى وَ اَعُوذُبِكَ يا عَظيمُ مِنْ شَرِّ خَلْقِكَ جَميعاً وَ اَعُوذُبِكَ مِنْ شَرِّ ما يُبْلِسُ بِهِ اِبْليسُ وَ جُنُودُهُ

Nineteenth: Al-Kulayni has reported through a semi-authentic chain of authority that a man came to Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) and asked him to teach him a supplicatory prayer he would say every morning and evening. The Imam (a.s.) therefore instructed him to say the following:

اَلْحَمْدُلِلَّهِ الَّذى يَفْعَلُ ما يَشآءُ وَلايَفْعَلُ ما يَشآءُ غَيْرُهُ اَلْحَمْدُلِلَّهِ كَما يُحِبُّ اللّهُ اَنْ يُحْمَدَ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ كَما هُوَ اَهْلُهُ اَللّهُمَّ اَدْخِلْنى فى كُلِّ خَيْرٍ اَدْخَلْتَ فيهِ مُحَمَّداً وَ آلَ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَخْرِجْنى مِنْ كُلِّ سُوَّءٍ اَخْرَجْتَ مِنْهُ مُحَمَّداً وَ آلَ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللّهُ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ

Twentieth: In the book of al-Balad al-Amin, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) is reported to have said: Whoever repeats this saying (composed of Quranic verses) seven times in the morning, Almighty Allah will save him that whole day:

فَاللّهُ خَيْرٌ حافِظاً وَ هُوَ اَرْحَمُ الرّاحِمينَ اِنَّ وَلِيِّىَ اللّٰهُ الَّذى نَزَّلَ الْكِتابَ وَ هُوَ يَتَوَلَّى الصّالِحينَ فَاِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَقُلْ حَسْبِىَ اللّٰهُ لا اِلهَ اِلاّ هُوَ عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ وَ هُوَ رَبُّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظيمِ

SALAWAT OF IMMENSE REWARDS

Twenty-first: In reliable books, it is recorded that whoever invokes blessings upon the Holy Prophet and his Household by repeating the following invocation three times in the morning and three times in the evening, his sins will be forgiven, his pleasure will be kept on, his prayers will be responded, his sustenance will be expanded, he will be supported against his enemies, and he will accompany the Holy Prophet in the gardens of Paradise:

اللّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ فِى الاَوَّلينَ وَ صَلِّ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ فِى الاْخِرينَ وَ صَلِّ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ فِى الْمَلاَءِ الاَعْلى وَ صَلِّ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ فِى الْمُرْسَلينَ اَللّهُمَّ اَعْطِ مُحَمَّداً الْوَسيلَةَ وَ الشَّرَفَ وَالْفَضيلَةَ وَالدَّرَجَةَ الْكَبيرَةَ اللّهُمَّ اِنّى آمَنْتُ بِمُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِهِ وَ لَمْ اَرَهُ فَلا تَحْرِمْنى يَوْمَ الْقِيمَةِ رُؤْيَتَهُ وَارْزُقْنى صُحْبَتَهُ وَ تَوفَّنى عَلى مِلَّتِهِ وَاسْقِنى مَنْ حَوْضِهِ مَشْرَباً رَوِيّاً سآئِغاً هَنيئَّاً لا اَظْمَاءُ بَعْدَهُ اَبَداً اِنَّكَ عَلى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَديرٌ اَللّهُمَّ كَما آمَنْتُ بِمُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ وَ لَمْ اَرَهُ فَاَرِنى فِى الْجِنانِ وَجْهَهُ اَللّهُمَّ بَلِّغْ رُوحَ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنّى تَحِيَّةً كَثيرَةً وَ سَلاماً.

This invocation of blessings upon the Holy Prophet and his Household has been also reported by al-Kaf’ami from Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) adding that whoever wishes to please the Holy Prophet and his Household should invoke blessings upon them using this form of invocation.

It is worthy reminding that there are still too many supplications to be said in mornings and evenings, but not all of them can be comprised by this brief book. More ten supplications will be later on cited in this book. These supplications have been also mentioned in my book of Mafatih al-Jinan within the recommended acts on the ‘Arafat Day.

If possible, you may also say the supplicatory prayers known as Dua al-Ashraat, Dua Yastashir, Dua al-Nur, and Dua al-’Ahd all of which have been mentioned in Mafatih al-Jinan. In the same book too, within the etiquettes of the soil of Imam al-Husayn’s tomb (i.e. turbat al-husayn), I have mentioned a supplicatory prayer to be said every morning and evening while having in the hand a rosary made of clay taken from Imam al-Husayn’s tomb, because this supplicatory prayer, which begins with the following statement, saves from all fearful things:

اصبحت الّلهمّ معتصما بدمامك ...

DUAS FOR EACH HOUR OF THE DAY

Shaykh al-Tusi, Sayyid Ibn Baqi, and Shaykh al-Kaf’ami have divided the day into twelve hours, dedicating each hour to one of the Twelve Imams (a.s.) and mentioning an advocacy-seeking supplication (i.e. tawassul) addressed to the Imam of that hour. Although these master scholars have not mentioned any tradition that is reported from the Holy Imams (a.s.) about this division, we, depending on the high regard of these scholars, can say that they would never say or do anything unless they had acquainted themselves with a narration indicating that saying or deed. However, in this brief book, I will mention only the supplicatory prayers that I have quoted from the book of Misbah al-Mutahajjid (by Shaykh al-Tusi).

DUA FOR THE FIRST HOUR

The first hour of the day, which is the space of time between dawn and sunrise, is dedicated to Imam AliAmeer al-Momineen(a.s.). The supplication at this hour is as follows:

اَللّهُمَّ رَبَّ الْبَهآءِ وَالْعَظَمَةِ وَالْكِبْريآءِ وَالسُّلْطانِ اَظْهَرْتَ الْقُدْرَةَ كَيْفَ شِئْتَ وَ مَنَنْتَ عَلى عِبادِكَ بِمَعْرِفَتِكَ وَ تَسَلَّطْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ بِجَبَرُوتِكَ وَ عَلَّمْتَهُمْ شُكْرَ نِعْمَتِكَ اَللّهُمَّ فَبِحَقِّ عَلِي الْمُرْتَضى لِلدّينِ وَالْعالِمِ بِالْحُكْمِ وَ مَجارِى التُّقى اِمامِ الْمُتَّقينَ صَلِّ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِهِ فِى الاَوَّلينَ وَالاْ خِرينَ وَ اُقَدِّمُهُ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ حَوآئِجى اَنْ تُصَلِّىَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَ كَذا

You may now mention your needs.

DUA FOR THE SECOND HOUR

The second hour, which is the space of time between sunrise and disappearance of the redness of the sun, is dedicated to Imam al-Hasan ibn Ali(a.s.). The following is the supplication at this hour:

اَللّهُمَّ لَبِسْتَ بَهآئَكَ فى اَعْظَمِ قُدْرَتِكَ وَ صَفا نُورُكَ فى اَنْوَرِ ضَوْئِكَ وَ فاضَ عِلْمُكَ حِجابَكَ وَ خَلَّصْتَ فيهِ اَهْلَ الثِّقَةِ بِكَ عِنْدَ جُودِكَ فَتَعالَيْتَ فى كِبْرِيآئِكَ عُلُوّاً عَظُمَتْ فيهِ مِنَّتُكَ عَلى اَهْلِ طاعَتِكَ فَباهَيْتَ بِهِمْ اَهْلَ سَمواتِكَ بِمِنَّتِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ اَللّهُمَّ فَبِحَقِّ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ عَلِي عَلَيْكَ اَسْئَلُكَ وَ بِهِ اَسْتَغيثُ اِلَيْكَ وَاُقِدِّمُهُ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ حَوآئِجى اَنْ تُصَلِّىَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَ كَذا

You may now mention your needs.

DUA FOR THE THIRD HOUR

The third hour, which is from disappearance of the ray of the sun to the rising of the daylight, is dedicated to Imam al-Husayn ibn Ali(a.s.). The following is the supplication at this hour:

يا مَنْ تَجَبَّرَ فَلا عَيْنٌ تَراهُ يا مَنْ تَعَظَّمَ فَلا تَخْطُرُ الْقُلُوبُ بِكُنْهِهِ يا حَسَنَ الْمَنِّ يا حَسَنَ التَّجاوُزِ يا حَسَنَ الْعَفْوِ يا جَوادُ يا كَريمُ يا مَنْ لا يُشْبِهُهُ شَىْءٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ يا مَنْ مَنَّ عَلى خَلْقِهِ بِاَوْلِيآئِهِ اِذْاِرْتَضيهُمْ لِدينِهِ وَ اَدَّبَ بِهِمْ عِبادَهُ وَ جَعَلَهُمْ حُجَجاً مَنّاً مِنْهُ عَلى خَلْقِهِ اَسْئَلُكَ بِحَقِّ الْحُسَيْنِ بْنِ عَلِي عَلَيْهِمَا السَّلامُ السِّبْطِ التّابِعِ لِمَرْضاتِكَ وَ النّاصِحِ فى دينِكَ وَالدَّليلِ عَلى ذاتِكَ اَسْئَلُكَ بِحَقِّهِ وَ اُقَدِّمُهُ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ حَوآئِجى اَنْ تُصَلِّىَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَ كَذا

You may now mention your needs.

DUA FOR THE FOURTH HOUR

The fourth hour is the space of time between the rise of daylight up to midday. It is dedicated to Imam Ali ibn al-Husayn (a.s.). The following is the supplication at this hour:

اَللّهُمَّ صَفا نُورُكَ فى اَتَمِّ عَظَمَتِكَ وَ عَلا ضِيآؤُكَ فى اَبْهى ضَوْئِكَ اَسْئَلُكَ بِنُورِكَ الَّذى نَوَّرْتَ بِهِ السَّمواتِ وَ الاَرَضينَ وَ قَصَمْتَ بِهِ الْجَبابِرَةَ وَاَحْيَيْتَ بِهِ الاَمْواتَ وَ اَمَتَّ بِهِ الاَحْيآءَ وَ جَمَعْتَ بِهِ الْمُتَفَرِّقَ وَ فَرَّقْتَ بِهِ الْمُجْتَمِعَ وَ اَتْمَمْتَ بِهِ الْكَلِماتِ وَ اَقَمْتَ بِهِ السَّمواتِ اَسْئَلُكَ بِحَقِّ وَلِيِّكَ عَلِىِّ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِعليه السلام الذّآبِّ عَنْ دينِكَ وَالْمُجاهِدِ فى سَبيلِكَ وَ اُقَدِّمُهُ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ حَوآئِجى اَنْ تُصَلِّىَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَ كَذا

You may now mention your needs.

DUA FOR THE FIFTH HOUR

The fifth hour of the day, which is the space of time between midday and the amount of four units of prayer after midday, is dedicated to Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s.). The supplication at this hour is as follows:

اَللّهُمَّ رَبَّ الضِّيآءِ وَالْعَظَمَةِ وَالنُّورِ وَالْكِبْرِيآءِ وَالسُّلْطانِ تَجَبَّرْتَ بِعَظَمَةِ بَهآئِكَ وَ مَنَنْتَ عَلى عِبادِكَ بِرَاْفَتِكَ وَ رَحْمَتِكَ وَ دَلَلْتَهُمْ عَلى مَوْجُودِ رِضاكَ وَ جَعَلْتَ لَهُمْ دَليلاً يَدُلُّهُمْ عَلى مَحَبَّتِكَ وَ يُعَلِّمُهُمْ مَحآبَّكَ وَ يَدُلُّهُمْ عَلى مَشِيَّتِكَ اَللّهُمَّ فَبِحَقِّ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَلِي عَلَيْهِمَا السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ وَ اُقَدِّمُهُ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ حَوآئِجى اَنْ تُصَلِّىَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَ كَذا

You may now mention your needs.

DUA FOR THE SIXTH HOUR

The sixth hour, which is the space of time between the amount of four units of prayer before midday up to the time of the Noon Prayer, is dedicated to Imam Ja’far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq(a.s.). The supplication at this hour is the following:

يا مَنْ لَطُفَ عَنْ اِدْراكِ الاَوْهامِ يا مَنْ كَبُرَ عَنْ مَوْجُودِ الْبَصَرِ يا مَنْ تَعالى عَنِ الصِّفاتِ كُلِّها يا مَنْ جَلَّ عَنْ مَعانِى اللُّطْفِ وَ لَطُفَ عَنْ مَعانِى الْجَلالِ اَسْئَلُكَ بِنُورِ وَجْهِكَ وَ ضِيآءِ كِبْرِيآئِكَ وَ اَسْئَلُكَ بِحَقِّ عَظَمَتِكَ الْعافِيَةَ مِنْ نارِكَ وَ اَسْئَلُكَ بِحَقِّ جَعْفَرِ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَلَيْكَ وَ اُقَدِّمُهُ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ حَوآئِجى اَنْ تُصَلِّى عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَ كَذا

You may now mention your needs.

DUA FOR THE SEVENTH HOUR

The seventh hour, which is the space of time between the Noon Prayer and the amount of four units of prayer before afternoon, is dedicated to Imam Musa ibn Ja’far al-Kazim (a.s.). The supplication at this hour is as follows:

يا مَنْ تَكَبَّرَ عَنِ الاَوْهامِ صُورَتُهُ يا مَنْ تَعالى عَنِ الصِّفاتِ نُورُهُ يا مَنْ قَرُبَ عِنْدَ دُعآءِ خَلْقِهِ يا مَنْ دَعاهُ الْمُضْطَرُّونَ وَ لَجَاَ اِلَيْهِ الْخائِفُونَ وَ سَئَلَهُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَ عَبَدَهُ الشّاكِرُونَ وَ حَمِدَهُ الْمُخْلِصُونَ اَسْئَلُكَ بِحَقِّ نُورِكَ الْمُضيىَّءِ وَ بِحَقِّ مُوسَى بْنِ جَعْفَرٍ عَلَيْكَ وَ اَتَقَرَّبُ بِهِ اِلَيْكَ وَ اُقَدِّمُهُ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ حَوْآئِجى اَنْ تُصَلِّىَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَ كَذا

You may now mention your needs.

DUA FOR THE EIGHTH HOUR

The eighth hour, which is the space of time between the amount of four units of prayer after the Noon Prayer and the Afternoon Prayer, is dedicated to Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Rida(a.s.). The supplication at this hour is the following:

يا خَيْرَ مَدْعُوٍّ يا خَيْرَ مَنْ اَعْطى يا خَيْرَ مَنْ سُئِلَ يا مَنْ اَضآءَ بِاسْمِهِ ضَوْءُ النَّهارِ وَ اَظْلَمَ بِهِ ظُلْمَةُ اللَّيْلِ وَ سالَ بِاسْمِهِ وابِلُ السَّيْلِ وَ رَزَقَ اَوْلِيآئَهُ كُلَّ خَيْرٍ يا مَنْ عَلاَ السَّمواتِ نُورُهُ وَ الاَرْضَ ضَوْئُهُ وَالشَّرْقَ وَالْغَرْبَ رَحْمَتُهُ يا واسِعَ الْجُودِ اَسْئَلُكَ بِحَقِّ عَلِىِّ بْنِ مُوسىَ الرِّضا عَليهِمَا السَّلامُ وَ اُقَدِّمُهُ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ حَوآئِجى اَنْ تُصَلِّىَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَ كَذا

You may now mention your needs.

DUA FOR THE NINETH HOUR

The ninth hour, which is the space of time between the Afternoon Prayer up to two hours after that, is dedicated to Imam Muhammad ibn Ali al-Taqi(a.s.). The supplication at this hour is as follows:

يا مَنْ دَعاهُ الْمُضْطَرُّونَ فَاَجابَهُمْ وَالْتَجَاَ اِلَيْهِالْخائِفُونَ فَامَنَهُمْ وَعَبَدَهُ الطّائِعُونَ فَشَكَرهُمْوَشَكَرَهُالْمُؤْمِنُونَ فَحَباهُمْ وَ اَطاعُوهُ فَعَصَمَهُمْ وَ سَئَلُوهُ فَاَعْطاهُمْ وَ نَسُوْا نِعَمَتَهُ فَلَمْ يُخْلِ شُكْرَهُ مِنْ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَامْتَنَّ عَلَيْهِمْ فَلَمْ يَجْعَلِ اسْمَهَ مَنْسِيّاً عِنْدَهُمْ اَسْئَلُكَ بِحَقِّ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَلِي عَلَيهِمَا السَّلامُ حُجِّتِكَ الْبالِغَةِ وَ نِعْمَتِكَ السّابِغَةِ وَ مَحَجَّتِكَ الْواضِحَةِ وَ اُقَدِّمُهُ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ حَوآئِجى اَنْ تُصَلِّىَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَ كَذا

You may now mention your needs.

DUA FOR THE TENTH HOUR

The tenth hour, which is the space of time between two hours after the Afternoon Prayer and the time before the sun is colored yellowish, is dedicated to Imam Ali ibn Muhammad al-Naqi(a.s.). The following is the supplication at this hour:

يا مَنْ عَلا فَعَظُمَ يا مَنْ تَسَلَّطَ فَتَجَبَّرَ وَ تَجَبَّرَ فَتَسَلَّطَ يا مَنْ عَزَّ فَاسْتَكْبَرَ فى عِزِّهِ يا مَنْ مَدَّ الظِّلَ عَلى خَلْقِهِ يا مَنْ اِمْتَنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ عَلى عَبادِهِ يا عَزيزاً ذَا انْتِقامٍ يا مُنْتَقِماً بِعِزَّتِهِ مِنْ اَهْلِ الشِّرْكِ اَسْئَلُكَ بِحَقِّ عَلِىِّ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَلَيْهِمَا السَّلامُ وَ اُقَدِّمُهُ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ حَوآئِجى اَنْ تُصَلِّىَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَ كَذا

You may now mention your needs.

DUA FOR THE ELEVENTH HOUR

The eleventh hour, which extends from the time before the yellowishing of the sun up to the time when it is colored yellowish, is dedicated to Imam al-Hasan ibn Ali al-’Askari(a.s.). The supplication at this hour is the following:

يا اَوَّلاً بِلا اَوَّلِيَّةٍ وَ آخِراً بِلا آخِرِيَّةٍ يا قَيُّوماً بِلا مُنْتَهى لِقِدَمِهِ يا عَزيزاً بِلاَ انْقِطاعٍ لِعِزَّتِهِ يا مُتَسَلِّطاً بِلا ضَعْفٍ مِنْ سُلْطانِهِ يا كَريماً بِدَوامِ نِعْمَتِهِ يا جَبّاراً وَ مُعِزّاً لاَِوْلِيائِهِ يا خَبيراً بِعِلْمِهِ يا عَليماً بِقُدْرَتِهِ يا قَديراً بِذاتِهِ اَسْئَلُكَ بِحَقِّ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ عَلِي عَلَيْهِمَا السَّلامُ وَ اُقَدِّمُهُ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ حَوآئِجى اَنْ تُصَلِىَّ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَكَذا

You may now mention your needs.

DUA FOR THE TWELFTH HOUR

The twelfth hour of the day begins with the sun coloring yellowish and ends with sunset. This hour is dedicated to Imam al-Mahdi the Patron of the Age (a.s.), and the following is the supplication at this hour:

يا مَنْ تَوَحَّدَ بِنَفْسِهِ عَنْ خَلْقِهِ يا مَنْ غَنِىَ عَنْ خَلْقِهِ بِصُنْعِهِ يا مَنْ عَرَّفَ نَفْسَهُ خَلْقَهُ بِلُطْفِهِ يا مَنْ سَلَكَ بِاَهْلِ طاعَتِهِ مَرْضاتَهُ يا مَنْ اَعانَ اَهْلَ مَحَبَّتِهِ عَلى شُكْرِهِمْ يا مَنْ مَنَّ عَلَيْهِمْ بِدينِهِ وَ لَطُفَ لَهُمْ بِنآئِلِهِ اَسْئَلُكَ بِحَقِّ الْخَلَفِ الصّالِحِ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ وَ اَتَضَرَّعُ اِلَيْكَ بِهِ وَ اُقَدِّمُهُ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ حَوآئِجى اَنْ تُصَلِّىَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَ كَذا اَللّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ اُولِى الاَمْرِ الَّذينَ اَمَرْتَ بِطاعَتِهِمْ وَ اُولِى الاَرْحامِ الَّذينَ اَمَرْتَ بِصِلَتِهِمْ وَ ذَوِى الْقُرْبَى الَّذينَ اَمَرْتَ بِمَودَّتِهِمْ وَ الْمَوالىِ الَّذينَ اَمَرْتَ بِعِرْفانِ حَقِّهِمْ وَ اَهْلِ الْبَيْتِ الَّذينَ اَذْهَبْتَ عَنْهُمُ الرِّجْسَ وَ طَهَّرْتَهُمْ تَطْهيراً اَنْ تُصَلِّىَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اَنْ تَفْعَلَ بى كَذا وَ كَذا

You may now mention your needs.

DUA OF EXALTATION

In his book of Miqbas al-Masabih, ‘Allamah al-Majlisi says: Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) is reported through valid chains of authority to have said: There are three hours at night and three others at day at which Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, glorifies Himself. The three hours of days begin when the sun in the east side is in the same rising in the afternoon on the other (west) side; that is at early forenoon. The three hours of night begin at the last third of night up to dawn. Any servant glorifies Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, at these hours with full heart presence, Almighty Allah will settle his needs, and if he is unhappy (because of sinning), I expect that he will be made happy.

It is most suitable to say the following words of glorification at these hours:

اَنْتَ اللّٰهُ لااِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ رَبُّ الْعالَمينَ اَنْتَ اللّٰهُ لا اِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ الرَّحْمنُ الرَّحيمُ اَنْتَ اللّٰهُ لا اِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ الْعَلِىُّ الْكَبيرُ اَنْتَ اللّٰهُ لا اِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ مَلِكُ يَوْمِ الدّينِ اَنْتَ اللّٰهُ لا اِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحيمُ اَنْتَ اللّٰهُ لا اِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ الْعَزيزُ الْحَكيمُ اَنْتَ اللّٰهُ لا اِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ مِنْكَ بَدْءُ الْخَلْقِ وَ اِلَيْكَ يَعُودُ اَنْتَ اللّٰهُ الَّذى لا اِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ لَمْ تَزَلْ وَ لاتَزالُ اَنْتَ اللّٰهُ الَّذى لا اِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ خالِقُ الْخَيْرِ وَالشَّرِّ، اَنْتَ اللّٰهُ لا اِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ خالِقُ الْجَنَّةِ وَالنّارِ اَنْتَ اللّهُ لا اِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ الاَحَدُ الصَّمَدُ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَ لَمْ يُولَدْ وَ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُواً اَحَدٌ اَنْتَ اللّٰهُ لا اِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ الْمَلِكُ الْقُدُّوسُ السَّلامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَيْمِنُ الْعَزيزُ الْجَبّارُ الْمُتَكَبِّرُ سُبْحانَ اللّٰهِ عَمّا يُشْرِكُونَ اَنْتَاللّٰهُ الْخالِقُ الْبارِئُ الْمُصَوِّرُ لَكَ الاَسْماَّءُ الْحُسْنى يُسَبِّحُ لَكَ ما فِى السَّمواتِ وَالاَرْضِ وَ اَنْتَ الْعَزيزُ الْحَكيمُ اَنْتَ اللّٰهُ لا اِلهَ اِلاّ اَنْتَ الْكَبيرُ الْمُتَعالِ وَالْكِبْرِيآءُ رِدآوُكَ

EVERYDAY SUPPLICATIONS

Ibn Baabwayh reports Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) to have said: Any servant (of God) that repeats the following supplication seven times everyday, Hellfire will ask Almighty Allah to protect him against it:

اَسْئَلُ اللّٰهَ الْجَنَّةَ وَ اَعُوذُ بِاللّهِ مِنَ النّارِ

Through another valid chain of authority, Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) is also reported to have said: Almighty Allah will certainly forgive any believer who commits forty grand sins every day and night but he then feels sorry for that and prays Almighty Allah to forgive him by saying the following imploration of forgiveness:

اَسْتَغْفِرُاللّٰهَ الَّذى لا اِلهَ اِلاّ هُوَ الْحَىُّ الْقَيُّومُ بَديعُ السَّمواتِ وَالاَرْضِ ذُوالْجَلالِ وَالاِكْرامِ وَ اَسْئَلُهُ اَنْ يَتُوبَ عَلَىَّ

Through another valid chain of authority, Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) is also reported to have said: He who repeats the following doxology seven times everyday is considered to have thanked Almighty Allah as it should be for the past and the coming graces:

اَلْحَمْدُلِلَّهِ عَلى كُلِّ نِعْمَةٍ كانَتْ اَوْ هِىَ كائِنَةٌ

Through another valid chain of authority, Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) is also reported to have said: He who repeats the following supplication twenty-five times every day, Almighty Allah will record for him rewards as many as the number of all believers that have passed and all believers that will exist up to the Resurrection Day, will erase sins of the same number that he committed, and will raise him ranks of the same number, too:

اَللّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِلْمُؤْمِنينَ وَ الْمُؤْمِناتِ وَالْمُسْلِمينَ وَ الْمُسْلِماتِ

Through another valid chain of authority, Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) is also reported to have said: He who repeats the following litany ten times every day, Almighty Allah will fend off from him seventy kinds of tribulations the easiest of which is distress (or, according to another narration, he will never be afflicted by poverty):

لا حول و لا قوّة الاّ باللّه

Al-Kulayni, al-Yabrisi, and other scholars have reported through many chains of authority, some of which are acceptable (hasan) and others are valid, that Imam al-Sadiq(a.s.) said that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) used to repeat the following two supplicatory statements seventy times each:

استغفر اللّه اتبو الى اللّه

In the books of Kashf al-Ghummah and al-Amali by Shaykh al-Tusi, it is reported through a valid chain of authority that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) said: He who repeats the following statement one hundred times every day, will be secured against poverty and loneliness in grave, will be granted richness, and the doors to Paradise will be opened before him:

لا اله‏ الاّ اللّه الملك الحقّ المبين

However, this statement has been mentioned in the book of al-Amali as follows:

لا اله الاّ اللّه الملك الحقّ المبين

According to the narration mentioned in the books of Thawab al-A’mal and al-Mahasin, this statement is repeated thirty times.

AN EFFECTIVE DAILY PRAYER

In his book of al-Da’awat, al-Qutb al-Rawandi reports Imam al-Rida(a.s.) to have quoted the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) as saying: He who wishes that his status in the Highest Group excels the status of the warriors for Allah’s sake, must repeat the following words of glorification every day. If he has a request to be granted, it will be granted; if he has an enemy to overcome, his enemy will be suppressed; if he has a debt to be settled, his debt will be settled; if he passes by an agony, he will be relieved; and his words will penetrate the Seven Skies to be written down in the Reserved Tablet (al-lawh al-mahfuz):

سُبْحان َاللّٰهِ كَما يَنْبَغى لِلَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُلِلَّهِ كَما يَنْبَغى لِلَّهِ وَ لا اِلهَ اِلا اللّٰهُ كَما يَنْبَغى لِلَّهِ وَاللّٰهُ اَكْبَرُ كَما يَنْبَغى لِلَّهِ وَ لا حَوْلَ وَ لا قُوَّةَ اِلاّ بِالِلَّهِ وَ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ النَّبِىِّ وَ عَلى اَهْلِ بَيْتِهِ وَ جَميعِ الْمُرْسَلينَ وَالنَّبِيّينَ حَتّى يَرْضَى اللّٰهُ.

INTELLECTUAL AND THEOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

In addition to those variations delineating Sunnism and Shi‘ism and the numerous sects, there have existed since the beginning of Islamic history, within the mainstream, different theologies and philosophies that have contributed to diversity within the Islamic world, even within a particular school of Law. When one thinks of Islam, it is important to remember that, on the intellectual and theological levels, as well as on the juridical one, Islam is not a monolithic structure, but displays remarkable diversity, the elements of which are bound together by the doctrine of tawhid, or unity. Over the centuries, Islam has created one of the richest intellectual traditions of the world, favorably comparable in its depth and diversity to those of India, China, and the Christian West. In medieval times, in fact, many Jewish and Christian theological and philosophical schools in Europe were created as a result of the influence of and in response to Islamic philosophical and theological teachings.

To discuss in depth all the different theological and philosophical schools or even the most important ones would not be possible here. What is important in the present context is to at least mention the best-known schools and point out that even on some of the most important central religious issues-the meaning of Divine Unity especially in relation to multiplicity, the nature of God’s Names and Qualities, the relation between faith and works in human salvation, predestination and free will, revelation and reason, the relation between God’s Mercy and His Justice, and questions of eschatology, not to mention political philosophy-there have existed numerous views, sometimes opposed to each other.

In theology, which in Islam is called ‘ilm al-kalam or simply kalam, there developed in the Sunni world in the eighth century, first of all, the Mu‘tazilite school, which favored extensive use of reason in the interpretation of religious matters, a position to which certain strict literalist interpreters of the Quran and Sunnah, such as the Hanbalis, were opposed. In fact, the Hanbalis have remained opposed to all forms of kalam until today, as has their Wahhabi offshoot.

To this day the teaching of any form of kalam is forbidden in religious universities in Saudi Arabia.

In the tenth century a new school of kalam called the Ash‘arite arose in Baghdad with the aim of creating a middle ground on many questions, such as the use of reason in religious matters. Ash‘arism, which many orientalists have identified with Islamic theological orthodoxy as such, spread quickly among the Shafi‘is and reached its peak in many ways with al-Ghazzali, who did, however, hold some non-Ash‘arite views, and with Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Gradually Ash‘arism spread among the Hanafis and Malikis as well and became the most widely held school of kalam in the Sunni world until the contemporary period. But there were also other Sunni schools of kalam that held sway in certain localities, such as Maturidism in Khurasan and Central Asia and T. ahawism in Egypt. Since the late nineteenth century, certain Muslim “reformers” such as Muh.ammad ‘Abduh of Egypt have sought to revive Mu‘tazilism, because it

made greater use of reason rather than relying predominately on the tenets of the revelation.

In Shi‘ism also, kalam has had a long history. Isma‘ili kalam, which began to be developed from the eighth century onward, was closely allied to Isma‘ili philosophy and took greater interest in what in the West would be called mystical theology than Sunni schools of kalam. As for Twelve-Imam Shi‘ite kalam, it developed along more intellectual lines than Ash‘arite kalam and received its systematic formulation in the thirteenth century in the hands of Nas.ir al-Din T. usi, who was also one of the greatest philosophers, mathematicians, and astronomers of Islam. The Zaydis adopted more or less Mu‘tazilite kalam, which therefore survived in the Yemen long after it had become eclipsed by Ash‘arism after the eleventh century in the intellectual centers of the heartland of the Islamic world in the Arab East and Persia.

Islamic philosophy was developed by Islamic thinkers rooted in the Quranic revelation and meditating upon translations of Greek and Syriac texts into Arabic. The result was the integration of ideas drawn mostly from Pythagoreanism, Platonism, Aristotelianism, Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, and to some extent Stoicism into the Quranic worldview and the creation of new philosophical perspectives.

Various schools were developed, starting with the Peripatetic (mashsha’i) and Isma‘ili from the ninth century onward. This early period produced such famous philosophers as al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina(Avicenna) , and Ibn Rushd(Averroës) , whose influence on the medieval West was immense. One cannot conceive of either the Christian philosophy of the Middle Ages and such figures as Albert the Great, St. Thomas, and Duns Scotus or medieval Jewish philosophy as represented by such masters as Ibn Gabirol and Maimonides (who wrote his most famous work, The Guide of the Perplexed, first in Arabic), without consideration of the influence of early Islamic philosophy and to some extent kalam upon them.

Although the influence of Islamic philosophy upon the West came more or less to an end in the thirteenth century with the translation of Averroës and earlier Islamic philosophers into Latin, Islamic philosophy itself not only did not come to an end, but was revived in the eastern lands of Islam and especially Persia. In the twelfth century Suhrawardi founded a new school of philosophy called the School of Illumination(ishraq) and in the seventeenth century S. adr al-Din Shirazi created a major synthesis of philosophy, doctrinal Sufism or gnosis in the sense of illuminative and unitive knowledge (‘irfan), and theology in a new school he called “the transcendent theosophy” (al-h. ikmat al-muta‘aliyah). Both of these schools are still very much alive and have played a major role in the intellectual life of Persia, India, and as far as the school of ishraq is concerned, to some extent, Ottoman Turkey.

Another major school that developed in the later history of Islam is doctrinal Sufism, or gnosis, associated with, more than anyone else, the name of the thirteenth-century Andalusian Sufi Muh. yi al-Din ibn ‘Arabi, the most influential intellectual figure in Islam during the past seven centuries.

His teachings spread from Sumatra and China to Mali and Mauritania, and his school produced numerous major thinkers and poets in nearly every Islamic land.

All of these schools of kalam, philosophy, and gnosis along with the philosophy of law, methods of Quranic commentary, and the study of other transmitted sciences with which we cannot deal here, as well as various schools of the sciences from medicine to astronomy, all of which are so important for both Islam and the development of science in the West, had both their adherents and opponents, and all of them must be seen as so many strands in the total tapestry of the Islamic intellectual tradition. Although they were all concerned with either the intellectual aspects of the religion, the cosmos in light of the truths of revelation, or purely theoretical knowledge, they often also exercised either direct or indirect influence on the popular level. In any case, their diversity must be considered when studying the spectrum of Islam in its totality. Their very existence also demonstrates the remarkably open universe of intellectual discourse within the framework of the Islamic tradition, an openness that marked many periods of Islamic history yet did not lead to rebellion against the sacred framework established by Islam, as was to happen in Christianity in the West after the Middle Ages.

THE QUESTION OF ORhTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY

The question of orthodoxy in any religion is of the utmost importance, for the very word means “correctness of belief or doctrine.” If there is truth, there is also error, and if nothing is false, then there is no truth. As the Quran says, “The truth has come and falsehood has perished” (17:81).

Orthodoxy means possession of religious truth, and orthopraxy, the correct manner of practicing and reaching the truth. In the context of the totality of the Islamic tradition and in light of what has been said of the spectrum of Islam, orthodoxy and orthopraxy can be understood as the state of being on the “straight path” (al-s.irat. al-mustaqim); Islam itself is sometimes called the “religion of the straight path.”

There is no magisterium in Islam, as there is in Catholicism, to determine the correctness of doctrine, and on the level of belief and doctrine Islam has been less stringent than Catholicism in determining what is orthodox. Usually acceptance of the testifications of faith, that is, “There is no god but God” and “Muh.ammad is His Messenger,” has sufficed, even if opposition has been made to other beliefs and interpretations of a particular person or group. Like Judaism, Islam has insisted more on the importance of orthopraxy than orthodoxy. Although it has been lenient on the level of orthodoxy as long as the principle of tawhid and the messengership of the Prophet have been accepted, it has been more stringent on the level of practice of the daily prayers, fasting, pilgrimage, and so forth; in observing dietary laws such as abstention from pork and alcoholic drinks; and in following moral laws dealing with sexual relations, theft, murder, and so on.

As to what plays the role of the magisterium in Islam, the best response is the ummah, or the Islamic community itself, and for Shi‘ism the guidance of the Imam. Throughout Islamic history, the consensus of the community has decided in the long run what new interpretations of the Quran andSunnah on the level of both thought and action are permissible and what is to be rejected. But this action by the community must always remain subservient to the teachings of God’s Word and those of His Prophet. At that level any innovation (bid‘ah) has always been seen as a major sin and deviation from the “straight path,” but the strong rejection of bid‘ah in its technical religious sense has never meant opposition to adaptation and application of the immutable principles of Islam to new conditions and situations, as has happened often throughout Islamic history.

With these definitions in mind, we can now turn to the spectrum of Islam and pose the question “What constitutes orthodox Islam?” In most Western studies, orthodoxy is limited to its exoteric aspect, and when Islam is considered, the four Sunni schools of Law alone are considered orthodox.

But this appraisal is totally inadequate. There is an exoteric orthodoxy and orthopraxy and there is an esoteric orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Traditional and orthodox Sufism is not only part of Islamic orthodoxy, but is its heart and must not be seen as analogous to various mystical and occult manifestations in postmedieval Christianity that are called heterodox. Sufism is as much a part of Islamic orthodoxy as Franciscan or Dominican spirituality was part of Catholic orthodoxy in the Middle Ages.

To understand the position of Shi‘ism within the Islamic tradition, one must compare it not to Protestantism, which arose many centuries after the foundation of Christianity as a protest against Catholicism, but to Eastern Orthodoxy, which has been there from the beginning. Although Catholicism and Orthodoxy have been at odds with each other for nearly one thousand years, both belong to the totality of Christian orthodoxy. The same holds true for Sunnism and mainstream Shi‘ism of the Twelve-Imam School. One might say that in the middle of the spectrum of Islam as far as orthodoxy and heterodoxy are concerned stand Sunnism and Twelve-Imam Shi‘ism. On the side of Sunnism leaning in the direction of extremism stand the Khawarij and similar groups, and on the side of Shi‘ism after the Zaydis and moderate Isma‘ilis stand those called Shi‘ite extremists(ghulat) , including eclectic forms of Isma‘ilism and the various sects described above. Certainly on the formal and exoteric level all the four schools of Sunni Law, Twelve-Imam Shi‘ism, Zaydiism, as well as those at the two sides of the central bands of the spectrum, whether they be Isma‘ilis or ‘Ibadis, as long as they practice theShari‘ah , belong to the category of Islamic orthodoxy, as does of course all normative Sufism that bases itself on the practice of Shari‘ite injunctions. In fact, because of the centrality of orthopraxy one could say that Muslims who practice theShari‘ah belong also to Islamic orthodoxy as long as they do not flout the major doctrines of the faith such as the Prophet being the seal of prophecy, as do the Ah. madiyyah.

The use of such terms as “heterodox” and “sect” must be weighed closely in light of the nature and structure of the Islamic tradition. One should never refer to Shi‘ism as a whole as a sect, any more than one would call the Greek Orthodox Church a sect. Nor should one call Sufism heterodox, unless one is pointing to a particular figure or group which has adopted either beliefs or practices that are indeed heterodox as judged by the consensus, or ijma‘, of the mainstream community on the basis of the Quran and the Sunnah, but such a phenomenon pales into insignificance when compared with the vast reality of Sufism.

Authentic esoterism, far from being heterodox, lies at the heart of orthodoxy and orthopraxy in their most universal sense.

CULTURAL ZONES IN ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION

People often speak of Arabic, Persian, or Turkish Islam as if they were three Islams. In reality there is only one Islam, but with local coloring related to the ethnic, linguistic, and cultural traits of the different peoples who became part of the Islamic community. Wherever Islam went, it did not seek to level the existing cultural structures to the ground, but to preserve and transform them as long as they did not oppose the spirit and form of the Islamic revelation. The result was the creation of a single Islamic identity. The vast area of the “Abode of Islam” (dar al-islam ) therefore came to display remarkable diversity on the human plane while reflecting everywhere the one message of the Quran revealed through the Prophet. This cultural and ethnic diversification must therefore be added to all of the factors already mentioned to make clearer the patterns that, superimposed upon each other, have created the great diversity in unity found in Islam.

The first cultural zone in the Islamic world is the Arabic zone, which stretches from Iraq and the Persian Gulf to Mauritania and before 1492 into the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Needless to say, in contrast to what many in the West think, the Arab world is not by any means synonymous with the Islamic world. In fact, Arab Muslims constitute less than a fifth of all Muslims, being around 220 million in number, but since the Quran was revealed to the Arab Prophet of Islam and the first Islamic society was established in Arabia, the Arabic zone of the “Abode of Islam” is the oldest part of the Islamic community and remains central to it. One of the great mysteries of early Islamic history is that as the Arab armies came out of Arabia, the lands that they conquered to the north and the west became both Islamicized and Arabized. The word “Arab” is a linguistic and not an ethnic term when used in a phrase like “the Arab world.” There was also much Arab migration into this world, but what made it decisively Arab was the adoption of the Arabic language from Morocco to Iraq. Even a country with such an unparalleled ancient past as Egypt became Arab and in fact remains to this day the center of Arabic culture. In contrast, the people of the Persian Empire under the Sassanids, who were conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century, became Muslim, but they did not adopt the Arabic language. Rather, they developed Persian on the basis of earlier Iranian languages and retained a distinct cultural zone of their own. Iraq was the only exception. Although the seat of the Sassanid capital, it became Arab and in fact the center of the ‘Abbasid caliphate, but it always retained strong Persian elements.

It is interesting to compare this development with the spread of Christianity into Europe. Through becoming Christian, Europe also became to some extent a part of the Abrahamic world, but remained less Semiticized than the non-Arab Muslims who embraced Islam, because through St. Paul Christianity itself had already become less “Semitic” before spreading into Europe. That is why the Christianization of Europe was not accompanied by the spread of Aramaic or some other Semitic language in the same way that Arabic spread in the Near East and Africa and also among Persians and Indians, who belonged to the same linguistic and racial stock as the Europeans.

Not only were the Gospels written in Greek and not Aramaic, which Christ spoke, but also the Bible itself was translated early into Latin as the Vulgate and became linguistically severed from its origin. Latin became the closest in its role as the language of religion and learning in the West to what Arabic was in the Islamic world, with the major difference that Arabic is the sacred language of Islam as Hebrew is that of Judaism, whereas Latin is a liturgical language of Christianity along with several other liturgical languages such as Greek and Slavonic. The Arabization of what is now the Arab world and the significance of Arabic among non-Arab Muslims cannot therefore be equated with the Christianization of Europe and the role of Latin in the medieval West, although there are some interesting parallels to be drawn between the two worlds.

The Arabic zone, characterized by the use of Arabic as not only the language of religion, which is common to all Muslims, but also as the language of daily life, is further divided into an eastern and a western part, with the line of demarcation being in the middle of Libya. The western lands, called in classical Arabic al-Maghrib, that is, “the West,” are further divided into the “near West,” including western Libya, Tunisia, and most of Algeria, and “the far West,” including western Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and in earlier periods of Islamic history al-Andalus, or Muslim Iberia. Also within the western zone are important non-Arab groups, the most important being the Berber, who inhabit mostly the Atlas Mountains and who have their own distinct language.

The second zone of Islamic culture, whose people were the second ethnic group to embrace Islam and to participate with the Arabs in building classical Islamic civilization, is the Persian zone, consisting of present-day Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan (with certain cities in Uzbekistan).

The dominant language of the people of all these countries is Persian, known locally by three different names, Farsi, Dari, and Tajik, all of which are the same language; the differences between them are no greater than differences between the English of Australia, England, and Texas. This zone also included southern Caucasia, the old Khorasan, Transoxiana, and parts of what is today Pakistan before the migration south of Turkic people from the tenth and eleventh centuries and subsequent ethnic and geopolitical changes. The people of this zone are predominantly of the Iranian race, which is a branch of the Aryan or Indo-Iranian-European peoples, and Persian is related to the Indo-European languages as are other Iranian languages spoken in this zone, such as Kurdish, Baluchi, and Pashtu.

This zone has a population of some 100 million people, but its influence is felt strongly beyond its borders in other zones of Islamic culture in Asia from the Turkic and the Indian to the Chinese.

The first Persian to embrace Islam was Salman-i Farsi, a slave whom the Prophet caused to become free, making him a member of his “Household.” From the beginning the Persians were deeply respectful of the “Family of the Prophet” and many of the descendants of the Prophet, including the eighth Imam, ‘Ali al-Rid.a, are buried in Persia.

But it would be false to think that the Persians were always Shi‘ites and the Arabs Sunnis. Shi‘ism began among Arabs and in the tenth century

much of the Arab east was Shi‘ite, while Khorasan, a major Persian province, was the seat of Sunni thought. It is only after the establishment of the Safavids that Persia became predominantly Shi‘ite and this majority increased when Afghanistan, a part of Baluchistan, and much of Central Asia, which were predominantly Sunni, were separated from Persia, and Iran in its present form was created. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, during the Safavid period until the eighteenth century it was part of Persia. Then the leader of the Afghan tribes defeated the Safavids and killed the last Safavid king.

Shortly thereafter Nadir Shah, the last oriental conqueror, recaptured lands all the way to Delhi, including what is today Afghanistan. After his death, however, eastern Afghanistan became independent, and in the nineteenth century finally, under British pressure, Persia relinquished its claim on Herat and western Afghanistan, and thereafter Afghanistan as we now know it came into being.

The third zone of Islamic culture is that of Black Africa.

Among the entourage of the Prophet, in addition to Salman, there was another famous companion who was not Arab. He was Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi, the muezzin or caller to prayer of the Prophet, who was a Black African.

His presence symbolized the rapid spread of Islam among the Blacks and the creation of the Black African zone of Islamic culture, encompassing a vast area from the highlands of Ethiopia, where Islam spread already in the seventh century, to Mali and Senegal. The descendants of Bilal are said to have migrated to Mali, forming the Mandinka clan Keita, which helped create the Mali Empire. Some of the companions of the Prophet also migrated to Chad and established Islam there a generation after the Prophet.

Altogether Islam spread in Black Africa mostly through trade, and such tribes as the Sanhaja, who themselves embraced Islam early, became intermediaries between Arab Muslims to the north and Black Africans. By the eleventh century a powerful Islamic kingdom was established in Ghana, and by the fourteenth century the Mali Empire, which was Muslim, was one of the richest in the world; its most famous ruler, Mansa Musa, one of the most notable rulers in the whole of the Islamic world.

In East Africa, which received Islam earlier than West Africa, the process of Islamization took a different path and was influenced greatly by the migration of both Arabs and Persians into the coastal areas of West Africa. By the twelfth century a Swahili kingdom was established with its capital in Kilwa, and from the mixture of Arabic, Persian, and Bantu the new Swahili language, perhaps the most important Islamic language of Muslim Black Africa, was born.

But in contrast to the Arab and Persian worlds, where one language dominates, the Black African zone of Islamic culture consists of many subzones with very distinct languages ranging from Hausa and Fulani to Somali. Some of these languages are also spoken by Christians and are culturally signficant for African Christianity.

Although the north of the African continent was already Arab a century after the rise of Islam, the area called classically the Sudan, which included

the steppes and the grasslands from present-day Sudan to Senegal, also became to a large extent Muslim over a millennium ago. It is, however, only since the nineteenth century that Islam has begun to penetrate inland into the forest regions south of the classical Sudan. There are of course also intermediate regions between the Arabic north and Black Africa where the two zones become intermingled, such as present-day Sudan, Eritrea, and Somalia. The zone of Black African Islamic culture with a population of well over 150 million people is bewilderingly diverse and presents a remarkable panorama of ethnic and cultural diversity within the local unity of Black African culture and the universal unity of Islam itself.

The fourth zone of Islamic culture is the Turkic zone, embracing all the people who speak one of the Altaic languages, of which the most important is Turkish, but which also include Adhari(Azeri) , Chechen, Uighur, Uzbek, Kirghiz, and Turkeman. The Turkic people, who were originally nomadic, migrated south from the Altai Mountains to conquer Central Asia from the Persians, changing its ethnic nature but remaining culturally very close to the Persian world. By the time they had entered the Persia of that historical period, they had already embraced Islam and in fact became its great champions. Not only did they defeat local Persian rulers such as the Samanids, but they soon pushed westward toward Anatolia, defeating the Byzantine army at the Battle of Manzikert (Malazgirt in Turkish) in 1071. This was one of the pivotal battles of Islamic history. It opened the Anatolian pasturelands to the Turkic nomads and led to the Turkification of Anatolia, the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, and finally to the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The Turks were powerful militarily and ruled over many Muslim lands, including Persia and Egypt, and their role in later Islamic history can hardly be exaggerated. Today the Turkic peoples, composed of more than 150 million people, are spread from Macedonia to Siberia and all the way to Vladivostok and are geographically the most widespread ethnic and cultural group within the Islamic world. There are notable Turkic groups also within other areas that are not majority Turkic, including Persia, Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Russia, which has important Turkic minorities who are remnants of people conquered during the expansion of the Russian Empire under the czars.

The fifth major zone of Islamic culture is that of the Indian subcontinent. Already in the first decade of the eighth century, the army of Muh.ammad ibn Qasim had conquered Sindh, and thus began the penetration of Islam into the subcontinent during the next few centuries, but Islam spread throughout India mostly through Sufi orders.

There were also invasions by various Turkic rulers into India, and from the eleventh century onward and until the British colonization of India Muslim rulers dominated over much of India, especially the north, where the Moghuls established a major empire in the sixteenth century. Indian Islam is ethnically mostly homogeneous, with some Persian and Turkic elements added to the local Indian population, but it is culturally and linguistically very diverse. For nearly a thousand years the intellectual and literary language of Indian Muslims was Persian, but several local languages, such as Sindhi, Gujrati, Punjabi, and Bengali, also gained some

prominence as Islamic languages. Gradually, from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a new language was born of the wedding of the Indian languages and Persian with Turkic elements added and became known as Urdu.

Written in the Arabic-Persian script, Urdu became, like Swahili, Ottoman Turkish, and several other Islamic languages, a major language of Islamic discourse and was later adopted as the official language of Pakistan. The Indian zone of Islamic culture includes Pakistan, Bangladesh, Muslims of India and Nepal, and the deeply rooted Islamic community of Sri Lanka. There are some 400 million Muslims in this region, more than in any other. The reason for this vast population is the rapid rise of the general population in all of India since the nineteenth century, including both Hindus and Muslims, and the fact that more than one-fourth of Indians had embraced Islam, which was able to provide providentially a path of salvation for those who could no longer function within the world of traditional Hinduism. They have created some of the greatest works of Islamic art and culture, and although ruled often by Turkic dynasties, they have been very close in cultural matters to the Persian world until modern times.

The sixth zone of Islamic culture embraces the Malay world in Southeast Asia. Islamicized by Arab traders from the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea and also by merchants and Sufis from India from the thirteenth century onward, Malay Islam displays again much ethnic homogeneity and possesses local traits all its own. Influenced deeply from the beginning by Sufism, which played a major role in the spread of Islam into that world, Malay Islam has usually reflected a mild and gentle aspect also in conformity with the predominant ethnic characteristics of the people. Dominated by Malay and Javanese languages, Malay Islam embraces Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and sizable minorities in Thailand as well as the Philippines and smaller minorities in Cambodia and Vietnam. Altogether there are over 220 million Muslims in this zone, and although this part of the Islamic world is a relative newcomer to the “Abode of Islam,” its adherents are known for their close attachment to Mecca and Medina and love for the Prophetic traditions.

As is the case with Africa and India, Malay Islam is highly influenced and colored operatively and intellectually by Sufism.

Besides these six major zones of Islamic culture, a few smaller ones must also be mentioned. One is Chinese Islam, whose origin goes back to the seventh century, when soon after the advent of Islam Muslim merchants settled in Chinese ports such as Canton. There has been a continuous presence of Islam in China since that time, but mostly in Sinkiang, which Muslim geographers call Eastern Turkistan.

The Islamic population of China includes both people of Turkic origin, such as the Uigurs, and native Chinese called Hui. Even among the Hans there are some Muslims. The number of Muslims in China remains a great mystery and figures from 25 to 100 million have been mentioned. There is a distinct Chinese Islamic architecture and calligraphy as well as a whole intellectual tradition closely allied to Persian Sufism. The Islamic

intellectual tradition in China began to express itself in classical Chinese rather than Persian and Arabic only from the seventeenth century onward.

Then there are the European Muslims-not Turkish enclaves found in Bulgaria, Greece, and Macedonia, but European ethnic groups-that have been Muslims for half a millennium. The most important among these groups are the Albanians, found throughout Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia, and Bosnians, found mostly in Bosnia but to some extent also in Croatia and Serbia. These groups are ethnically of European stock, and the understanding of their culture is important for a better comprehension of both the spectrum of Islam in its totality and the rapport between Islam and the West in today’s Europe.

Finally, there are the new Islamic communities in Europe and America, including both immigrants and converts (or what many Muslims prefer to call reverts, that is, those who have gone back or reverted to the primordial religion, which is identified here with Islam). These include several million North Africans in France, some 3 million Turks and a sizable number of Kurds in Germany, some 2 million mostly from the Indian subcontinent in Great Britain, and smaller but nevertheless sizable populations in other European countries. In America there are both immigrants, mostly from the Arab East, Iran, and the subcontinent, and converts, primarily among African Americans but also some among whites. The spread of Islam among African Americans began with Elijah Muhammad, who created the Nation of Islam, which espouses reverse racism against whites. This movement later split into two groups and most of its members, along with other African American Muslims, soon joined the mainstream of Islam.

In this process the role of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, better known as Malcolm X, was of particular significance. There are some 25 million Muslims in Europe, some 6 million (although some have claimed other figures ranging from 5 to 7 million) in America, half a million in Canada, and perhaps over 2 million in South America. To view the spectrum of Islam globally, it is necessary to consider also these Islamic communities in the West, especially since they play such an important role as a bridge between the “Abode of Islam” (dar al-islam ), from which they come, and the West, which is their home.

These zones of Islamic culture described briefly here display a bewildering array of ethnicities, languages, forms of

art and music, and differing habitats for human life. Islam is practiced from the jungles of Borneo to the Hindu Kush mountains to the deserts of Mauritania. It includes whites, blacks, yellow-skinned people, and practically every intermediary type. Its followers have black as well as blond hair, brown as well as blue eyes. But within this remarkable diversity there reigns the unity created by Islam, a unity that can be seen in the recitation of the Quran in Arabic from east to west, in the daily prayers in the direction of Mecca, in the emulation of the single model of the Prophet, in the following of theShari‘ah , in the spiritual perfume of the Sufi orders, in the universal patterns and rhythms of Islamic art, and in many other factors. Unity in Islam has never meant uniformity and has always embraced diversity. To understand both this unity and this diversity within unity is to grasp the way in which Islam has been able to encompass so many human collectivities, to respect God-given differences and yet create a vast civilization unified and dominated by the principle of tawhid, or unity.

INTELLECTUAL AND THEOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

In addition to those variations delineating Sunnism and Shi‘ism and the numerous sects, there have existed since the beginning of Islamic history, within the mainstream, different theologies and philosophies that have contributed to diversity within the Islamic world, even within a particular school of Law. When one thinks of Islam, it is important to remember that, on the intellectual and theological levels, as well as on the juridical one, Islam is not a monolithic structure, but displays remarkable diversity, the elements of which are bound together by the doctrine of tawhid, or unity. Over the centuries, Islam has created one of the richest intellectual traditions of the world, favorably comparable in its depth and diversity to those of India, China, and the Christian West. In medieval times, in fact, many Jewish and Christian theological and philosophical schools in Europe were created as a result of the influence of and in response to Islamic philosophical and theological teachings.

To discuss in depth all the different theological and philosophical schools or even the most important ones would not be possible here. What is important in the present context is to at least mention the best-known schools and point out that even on some of the most important central religious issues-the meaning of Divine Unity especially in relation to multiplicity, the nature of God’s Names and Qualities, the relation between faith and works in human salvation, predestination and free will, revelation and reason, the relation between God’s Mercy and His Justice, and questions of eschatology, not to mention political philosophy-there have existed numerous views, sometimes opposed to each other.

In theology, which in Islam is called ‘ilm al-kalam or simply kalam, there developed in the Sunni world in the eighth century, first of all, the Mu‘tazilite school, which favored extensive use of reason in the interpretation of religious matters, a position to which certain strict literalist interpreters of the Quran and Sunnah, such as the Hanbalis, were opposed. In fact, the Hanbalis have remained opposed to all forms of kalam until today, as has their Wahhabi offshoot.

To this day the teaching of any form of kalam is forbidden in religious universities in Saudi Arabia.

In the tenth century a new school of kalam called the Ash‘arite arose in Baghdad with the aim of creating a middle ground on many questions, such as the use of reason in religious matters. Ash‘arism, which many orientalists have identified with Islamic theological orthodoxy as such, spread quickly among the Shafi‘is and reached its peak in many ways with al-Ghazzali, who did, however, hold some non-Ash‘arite views, and with Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Gradually Ash‘arism spread among the Hanafis and Malikis as well and became the most widely held school of kalam in the Sunni world until the contemporary period. But there were also other Sunni schools of kalam that held sway in certain localities, such as Maturidism in Khurasan and Central Asia and T. ahawism in Egypt. Since the late nineteenth century, certain Muslim “reformers” such as Muh.ammad ‘Abduh of Egypt have sought to revive Mu‘tazilism, because it

made greater use of reason rather than relying predominately on the tenets of the revelation.

In Shi‘ism also, kalam has had a long history. Isma‘ili kalam, which began to be developed from the eighth century onward, was closely allied to Isma‘ili philosophy and took greater interest in what in the West would be called mystical theology than Sunni schools of kalam. As for Twelve-Imam Shi‘ite kalam, it developed along more intellectual lines than Ash‘arite kalam and received its systematic formulation in the thirteenth century in the hands of Nas.ir al-Din T. usi, who was also one of the greatest philosophers, mathematicians, and astronomers of Islam. The Zaydis adopted more or less Mu‘tazilite kalam, which therefore survived in the Yemen long after it had become eclipsed by Ash‘arism after the eleventh century in the intellectual centers of the heartland of the Islamic world in the Arab East and Persia.

Islamic philosophy was developed by Islamic thinkers rooted in the Quranic revelation and meditating upon translations of Greek and Syriac texts into Arabic. The result was the integration of ideas drawn mostly from Pythagoreanism, Platonism, Aristotelianism, Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, and to some extent Stoicism into the Quranic worldview and the creation of new philosophical perspectives.

Various schools were developed, starting with the Peripatetic (mashsha’i) and Isma‘ili from the ninth century onward. This early period produced such famous philosophers as al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina(Avicenna) , and Ibn Rushd(Averroës) , whose influence on the medieval West was immense. One cannot conceive of either the Christian philosophy of the Middle Ages and such figures as Albert the Great, St. Thomas, and Duns Scotus or medieval Jewish philosophy as represented by such masters as Ibn Gabirol and Maimonides (who wrote his most famous work, The Guide of the Perplexed, first in Arabic), without consideration of the influence of early Islamic philosophy and to some extent kalam upon them.

Although the influence of Islamic philosophy upon the West came more or less to an end in the thirteenth century with the translation of Averroës and earlier Islamic philosophers into Latin, Islamic philosophy itself not only did not come to an end, but was revived in the eastern lands of Islam and especially Persia. In the twelfth century Suhrawardi founded a new school of philosophy called the School of Illumination(ishraq) and in the seventeenth century S. adr al-Din Shirazi created a major synthesis of philosophy, doctrinal Sufism or gnosis in the sense of illuminative and unitive knowledge (‘irfan), and theology in a new school he called “the transcendent theosophy” (al-h. ikmat al-muta‘aliyah). Both of these schools are still very much alive and have played a major role in the intellectual life of Persia, India, and as far as the school of ishraq is concerned, to some extent, Ottoman Turkey.

Another major school that developed in the later history of Islam is doctrinal Sufism, or gnosis, associated with, more than anyone else, the name of the thirteenth-century Andalusian Sufi Muh. yi al-Din ibn ‘Arabi, the most influential intellectual figure in Islam during the past seven centuries.

His teachings spread from Sumatra and China to Mali and Mauritania, and his school produced numerous major thinkers and poets in nearly every Islamic land.

All of these schools of kalam, philosophy, and gnosis along with the philosophy of law, methods of Quranic commentary, and the study of other transmitted sciences with which we cannot deal here, as well as various schools of the sciences from medicine to astronomy, all of which are so important for both Islam and the development of science in the West, had both their adherents and opponents, and all of them must be seen as so many strands in the total tapestry of the Islamic intellectual tradition. Although they were all concerned with either the intellectual aspects of the religion, the cosmos in light of the truths of revelation, or purely theoretical knowledge, they often also exercised either direct or indirect influence on the popular level. In any case, their diversity must be considered when studying the spectrum of Islam in its totality. Their very existence also demonstrates the remarkably open universe of intellectual discourse within the framework of the Islamic tradition, an openness that marked many periods of Islamic history yet did not lead to rebellion against the sacred framework established by Islam, as was to happen in Christianity in the West after the Middle Ages.

THE QUESTION OF ORhTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY

The question of orthodoxy in any religion is of the utmost importance, for the very word means “correctness of belief or doctrine.” If there is truth, there is also error, and if nothing is false, then there is no truth. As the Quran says, “The truth has come and falsehood has perished” (17:81).

Orthodoxy means possession of religious truth, and orthopraxy, the correct manner of practicing and reaching the truth. In the context of the totality of the Islamic tradition and in light of what has been said of the spectrum of Islam, orthodoxy and orthopraxy can be understood as the state of being on the “straight path” (al-s.irat. al-mustaqim); Islam itself is sometimes called the “religion of the straight path.”

There is no magisterium in Islam, as there is in Catholicism, to determine the correctness of doctrine, and on the level of belief and doctrine Islam has been less stringent than Catholicism in determining what is orthodox. Usually acceptance of the testifications of faith, that is, “There is no god but God” and “Muh.ammad is His Messenger,” has sufficed, even if opposition has been made to other beliefs and interpretations of a particular person or group. Like Judaism, Islam has insisted more on the importance of orthopraxy than orthodoxy. Although it has been lenient on the level of orthodoxy as long as the principle of tawhid and the messengership of the Prophet have been accepted, it has been more stringent on the level of practice of the daily prayers, fasting, pilgrimage, and so forth; in observing dietary laws such as abstention from pork and alcoholic drinks; and in following moral laws dealing with sexual relations, theft, murder, and so on.

As to what plays the role of the magisterium in Islam, the best response is the ummah, or the Islamic community itself, and for Shi‘ism the guidance of the Imam. Throughout Islamic history, the consensus of the community has decided in the long run what new interpretations of the Quran andSunnah on the level of both thought and action are permissible and what is to be rejected. But this action by the community must always remain subservient to the teachings of God’s Word and those of His Prophet. At that level any innovation (bid‘ah) has always been seen as a major sin and deviation from the “straight path,” but the strong rejection of bid‘ah in its technical religious sense has never meant opposition to adaptation and application of the immutable principles of Islam to new conditions and situations, as has happened often throughout Islamic history.

With these definitions in mind, we can now turn to the spectrum of Islam and pose the question “What constitutes orthodox Islam?” In most Western studies, orthodoxy is limited to its exoteric aspect, and when Islam is considered, the four Sunni schools of Law alone are considered orthodox.

But this appraisal is totally inadequate. There is an exoteric orthodoxy and orthopraxy and there is an esoteric orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Traditional and orthodox Sufism is not only part of Islamic orthodoxy, but is its heart and must not be seen as analogous to various mystical and occult manifestations in postmedieval Christianity that are called heterodox. Sufism is as much a part of Islamic orthodoxy as Franciscan or Dominican spirituality was part of Catholic orthodoxy in the Middle Ages.

To understand the position of Shi‘ism within the Islamic tradition, one must compare it not to Protestantism, which arose many centuries after the foundation of Christianity as a protest against Catholicism, but to Eastern Orthodoxy, which has been there from the beginning. Although Catholicism and Orthodoxy have been at odds with each other for nearly one thousand years, both belong to the totality of Christian orthodoxy. The same holds true for Sunnism and mainstream Shi‘ism of the Twelve-Imam School. One might say that in the middle of the spectrum of Islam as far as orthodoxy and heterodoxy are concerned stand Sunnism and Twelve-Imam Shi‘ism. On the side of Sunnism leaning in the direction of extremism stand the Khawarij and similar groups, and on the side of Shi‘ism after the Zaydis and moderate Isma‘ilis stand those called Shi‘ite extremists(ghulat) , including eclectic forms of Isma‘ilism and the various sects described above. Certainly on the formal and exoteric level all the four schools of Sunni Law, Twelve-Imam Shi‘ism, Zaydiism, as well as those at the two sides of the central bands of the spectrum, whether they be Isma‘ilis or ‘Ibadis, as long as they practice theShari‘ah , belong to the category of Islamic orthodoxy, as does of course all normative Sufism that bases itself on the practice of Shari‘ite injunctions. In fact, because of the centrality of orthopraxy one could say that Muslims who practice theShari‘ah belong also to Islamic orthodoxy as long as they do not flout the major doctrines of the faith such as the Prophet being the seal of prophecy, as do the Ah. madiyyah.

The use of such terms as “heterodox” and “sect” must be weighed closely in light of the nature and structure of the Islamic tradition. One should never refer to Shi‘ism as a whole as a sect, any more than one would call the Greek Orthodox Church a sect. Nor should one call Sufism heterodox, unless one is pointing to a particular figure or group which has adopted either beliefs or practices that are indeed heterodox as judged by the consensus, or ijma‘, of the mainstream community on the basis of the Quran and the Sunnah, but such a phenomenon pales into insignificance when compared with the vast reality of Sufism.

Authentic esoterism, far from being heterodox, lies at the heart of orthodoxy and orthopraxy in their most universal sense.

CULTURAL ZONES IN ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION

People often speak of Arabic, Persian, or Turkish Islam as if they were three Islams. In reality there is only one Islam, but with local coloring related to the ethnic, linguistic, and cultural traits of the different peoples who became part of the Islamic community. Wherever Islam went, it did not seek to level the existing cultural structures to the ground, but to preserve and transform them as long as they did not oppose the spirit and form of the Islamic revelation. The result was the creation of a single Islamic identity. The vast area of the “Abode of Islam” (dar al-islam ) therefore came to display remarkable diversity on the human plane while reflecting everywhere the one message of the Quran revealed through the Prophet. This cultural and ethnic diversification must therefore be added to all of the factors already mentioned to make clearer the patterns that, superimposed upon each other, have created the great diversity in unity found in Islam.

The first cultural zone in the Islamic world is the Arabic zone, which stretches from Iraq and the Persian Gulf to Mauritania and before 1492 into the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Needless to say, in contrast to what many in the West think, the Arab world is not by any means synonymous with the Islamic world. In fact, Arab Muslims constitute less than a fifth of all Muslims, being around 220 million in number, but since the Quran was revealed to the Arab Prophet of Islam and the first Islamic society was established in Arabia, the Arabic zone of the “Abode of Islam” is the oldest part of the Islamic community and remains central to it. One of the great mysteries of early Islamic history is that as the Arab armies came out of Arabia, the lands that they conquered to the north and the west became both Islamicized and Arabized. The word “Arab” is a linguistic and not an ethnic term when used in a phrase like “the Arab world.” There was also much Arab migration into this world, but what made it decisively Arab was the adoption of the Arabic language from Morocco to Iraq. Even a country with such an unparalleled ancient past as Egypt became Arab and in fact remains to this day the center of Arabic culture. In contrast, the people of the Persian Empire under the Sassanids, who were conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century, became Muslim, but they did not adopt the Arabic language. Rather, they developed Persian on the basis of earlier Iranian languages and retained a distinct cultural zone of their own. Iraq was the only exception. Although the seat of the Sassanid capital, it became Arab and in fact the center of the ‘Abbasid caliphate, but it always retained strong Persian elements.

It is interesting to compare this development with the spread of Christianity into Europe. Through becoming Christian, Europe also became to some extent a part of the Abrahamic world, but remained less Semiticized than the non-Arab Muslims who embraced Islam, because through St. Paul Christianity itself had already become less “Semitic” before spreading into Europe. That is why the Christianization of Europe was not accompanied by the spread of Aramaic or some other Semitic language in the same way that Arabic spread in the Near East and Africa and also among Persians and Indians, who belonged to the same linguistic and racial stock as the Europeans.

Not only were the Gospels written in Greek and not Aramaic, which Christ spoke, but also the Bible itself was translated early into Latin as the Vulgate and became linguistically severed from its origin. Latin became the closest in its role as the language of religion and learning in the West to what Arabic was in the Islamic world, with the major difference that Arabic is the sacred language of Islam as Hebrew is that of Judaism, whereas Latin is a liturgical language of Christianity along with several other liturgical languages such as Greek and Slavonic. The Arabization of what is now the Arab world and the significance of Arabic among non-Arab Muslims cannot therefore be equated with the Christianization of Europe and the role of Latin in the medieval West, although there are some interesting parallels to be drawn between the two worlds.

The Arabic zone, characterized by the use of Arabic as not only the language of religion, which is common to all Muslims, but also as the language of daily life, is further divided into an eastern and a western part, with the line of demarcation being in the middle of Libya. The western lands, called in classical Arabic al-Maghrib, that is, “the West,” are further divided into the “near West,” including western Libya, Tunisia, and most of Algeria, and “the far West,” including western Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and in earlier periods of Islamic history al-Andalus, or Muslim Iberia. Also within the western zone are important non-Arab groups, the most important being the Berber, who inhabit mostly the Atlas Mountains and who have their own distinct language.

The second zone of Islamic culture, whose people were the second ethnic group to embrace Islam and to participate with the Arabs in building classical Islamic civilization, is the Persian zone, consisting of present-day Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan (with certain cities in Uzbekistan).

The dominant language of the people of all these countries is Persian, known locally by three different names, Farsi, Dari, and Tajik, all of which are the same language; the differences between them are no greater than differences between the English of Australia, England, and Texas. This zone also included southern Caucasia, the old Khorasan, Transoxiana, and parts of what is today Pakistan before the migration south of Turkic people from the tenth and eleventh centuries and subsequent ethnic and geopolitical changes. The people of this zone are predominantly of the Iranian race, which is a branch of the Aryan or Indo-Iranian-European peoples, and Persian is related to the Indo-European languages as are other Iranian languages spoken in this zone, such as Kurdish, Baluchi, and Pashtu.

This zone has a population of some 100 million people, but its influence is felt strongly beyond its borders in other zones of Islamic culture in Asia from the Turkic and the Indian to the Chinese.

The first Persian to embrace Islam was Salman-i Farsi, a slave whom the Prophet caused to become free, making him a member of his “Household.” From the beginning the Persians were deeply respectful of the “Family of the Prophet” and many of the descendants of the Prophet, including the eighth Imam, ‘Ali al-Rid.a, are buried in Persia.

But it would be false to think that the Persians were always Shi‘ites and the Arabs Sunnis. Shi‘ism began among Arabs and in the tenth century

much of the Arab east was Shi‘ite, while Khorasan, a major Persian province, was the seat of Sunni thought. It is only after the establishment of the Safavids that Persia became predominantly Shi‘ite and this majority increased when Afghanistan, a part of Baluchistan, and much of Central Asia, which were predominantly Sunni, were separated from Persia, and Iran in its present form was created. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, during the Safavid period until the eighteenth century it was part of Persia. Then the leader of the Afghan tribes defeated the Safavids and killed the last Safavid king.

Shortly thereafter Nadir Shah, the last oriental conqueror, recaptured lands all the way to Delhi, including what is today Afghanistan. After his death, however, eastern Afghanistan became independent, and in the nineteenth century finally, under British pressure, Persia relinquished its claim on Herat and western Afghanistan, and thereafter Afghanistan as we now know it came into being.

The third zone of Islamic culture is that of Black Africa.

Among the entourage of the Prophet, in addition to Salman, there was another famous companion who was not Arab. He was Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi, the muezzin or caller to prayer of the Prophet, who was a Black African.

His presence symbolized the rapid spread of Islam among the Blacks and the creation of the Black African zone of Islamic culture, encompassing a vast area from the highlands of Ethiopia, where Islam spread already in the seventh century, to Mali and Senegal. The descendants of Bilal are said to have migrated to Mali, forming the Mandinka clan Keita, which helped create the Mali Empire. Some of the companions of the Prophet also migrated to Chad and established Islam there a generation after the Prophet.

Altogether Islam spread in Black Africa mostly through trade, and such tribes as the Sanhaja, who themselves embraced Islam early, became intermediaries between Arab Muslims to the north and Black Africans. By the eleventh century a powerful Islamic kingdom was established in Ghana, and by the fourteenth century the Mali Empire, which was Muslim, was one of the richest in the world; its most famous ruler, Mansa Musa, one of the most notable rulers in the whole of the Islamic world.

In East Africa, which received Islam earlier than West Africa, the process of Islamization took a different path and was influenced greatly by the migration of both Arabs and Persians into the coastal areas of West Africa. By the twelfth century a Swahili kingdom was established with its capital in Kilwa, and from the mixture of Arabic, Persian, and Bantu the new Swahili language, perhaps the most important Islamic language of Muslim Black Africa, was born.

But in contrast to the Arab and Persian worlds, where one language dominates, the Black African zone of Islamic culture consists of many subzones with very distinct languages ranging from Hausa and Fulani to Somali. Some of these languages are also spoken by Christians and are culturally signficant for African Christianity.

Although the north of the African continent was already Arab a century after the rise of Islam, the area called classically the Sudan, which included

the steppes and the grasslands from present-day Sudan to Senegal, also became to a large extent Muslim over a millennium ago. It is, however, only since the nineteenth century that Islam has begun to penetrate inland into the forest regions south of the classical Sudan. There are of course also intermediate regions between the Arabic north and Black Africa where the two zones become intermingled, such as present-day Sudan, Eritrea, and Somalia. The zone of Black African Islamic culture with a population of well over 150 million people is bewilderingly diverse and presents a remarkable panorama of ethnic and cultural diversity within the local unity of Black African culture and the universal unity of Islam itself.

The fourth zone of Islamic culture is the Turkic zone, embracing all the people who speak one of the Altaic languages, of which the most important is Turkish, but which also include Adhari(Azeri) , Chechen, Uighur, Uzbek, Kirghiz, and Turkeman. The Turkic people, who were originally nomadic, migrated south from the Altai Mountains to conquer Central Asia from the Persians, changing its ethnic nature but remaining culturally very close to the Persian world. By the time they had entered the Persia of that historical period, they had already embraced Islam and in fact became its great champions. Not only did they defeat local Persian rulers such as the Samanids, but they soon pushed westward toward Anatolia, defeating the Byzantine army at the Battle of Manzikert (Malazgirt in Turkish) in 1071. This was one of the pivotal battles of Islamic history. It opened the Anatolian pasturelands to the Turkic nomads and led to the Turkification of Anatolia, the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, and finally to the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The Turks were powerful militarily and ruled over many Muslim lands, including Persia and Egypt, and their role in later Islamic history can hardly be exaggerated. Today the Turkic peoples, composed of more than 150 million people, are spread from Macedonia to Siberia and all the way to Vladivostok and are geographically the most widespread ethnic and cultural group within the Islamic world. There are notable Turkic groups also within other areas that are not majority Turkic, including Persia, Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Russia, which has important Turkic minorities who are remnants of people conquered during the expansion of the Russian Empire under the czars.

The fifth major zone of Islamic culture is that of the Indian subcontinent. Already in the first decade of the eighth century, the army of Muh.ammad ibn Qasim had conquered Sindh, and thus began the penetration of Islam into the subcontinent during the next few centuries, but Islam spread throughout India mostly through Sufi orders.

There were also invasions by various Turkic rulers into India, and from the eleventh century onward and until the British colonization of India Muslim rulers dominated over much of India, especially the north, where the Moghuls established a major empire in the sixteenth century. Indian Islam is ethnically mostly homogeneous, with some Persian and Turkic elements added to the local Indian population, but it is culturally and linguistically very diverse. For nearly a thousand years the intellectual and literary language of Indian Muslims was Persian, but several local languages, such as Sindhi, Gujrati, Punjabi, and Bengali, also gained some

prominence as Islamic languages. Gradually, from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a new language was born of the wedding of the Indian languages and Persian with Turkic elements added and became known as Urdu.

Written in the Arabic-Persian script, Urdu became, like Swahili, Ottoman Turkish, and several other Islamic languages, a major language of Islamic discourse and was later adopted as the official language of Pakistan. The Indian zone of Islamic culture includes Pakistan, Bangladesh, Muslims of India and Nepal, and the deeply rooted Islamic community of Sri Lanka. There are some 400 million Muslims in this region, more than in any other. The reason for this vast population is the rapid rise of the general population in all of India since the nineteenth century, including both Hindus and Muslims, and the fact that more than one-fourth of Indians had embraced Islam, which was able to provide providentially a path of salvation for those who could no longer function within the world of traditional Hinduism. They have created some of the greatest works of Islamic art and culture, and although ruled often by Turkic dynasties, they have been very close in cultural matters to the Persian world until modern times.

The sixth zone of Islamic culture embraces the Malay world in Southeast Asia. Islamicized by Arab traders from the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea and also by merchants and Sufis from India from the thirteenth century onward, Malay Islam displays again much ethnic homogeneity and possesses local traits all its own. Influenced deeply from the beginning by Sufism, which played a major role in the spread of Islam into that world, Malay Islam has usually reflected a mild and gentle aspect also in conformity with the predominant ethnic characteristics of the people. Dominated by Malay and Javanese languages, Malay Islam embraces Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and sizable minorities in Thailand as well as the Philippines and smaller minorities in Cambodia and Vietnam. Altogether there are over 220 million Muslims in this zone, and although this part of the Islamic world is a relative newcomer to the “Abode of Islam,” its adherents are known for their close attachment to Mecca and Medina and love for the Prophetic traditions.

As is the case with Africa and India, Malay Islam is highly influenced and colored operatively and intellectually by Sufism.

Besides these six major zones of Islamic culture, a few smaller ones must also be mentioned. One is Chinese Islam, whose origin goes back to the seventh century, when soon after the advent of Islam Muslim merchants settled in Chinese ports such as Canton. There has been a continuous presence of Islam in China since that time, but mostly in Sinkiang, which Muslim geographers call Eastern Turkistan.

The Islamic population of China includes both people of Turkic origin, such as the Uigurs, and native Chinese called Hui. Even among the Hans there are some Muslims. The number of Muslims in China remains a great mystery and figures from 25 to 100 million have been mentioned. There is a distinct Chinese Islamic architecture and calligraphy as well as a whole intellectual tradition closely allied to Persian Sufism. The Islamic

intellectual tradition in China began to express itself in classical Chinese rather than Persian and Arabic only from the seventeenth century onward.

Then there are the European Muslims-not Turkish enclaves found in Bulgaria, Greece, and Macedonia, but European ethnic groups-that have been Muslims for half a millennium. The most important among these groups are the Albanians, found throughout Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia, and Bosnians, found mostly in Bosnia but to some extent also in Croatia and Serbia. These groups are ethnically of European stock, and the understanding of their culture is important for a better comprehension of both the spectrum of Islam in its totality and the rapport between Islam and the West in today’s Europe.

Finally, there are the new Islamic communities in Europe and America, including both immigrants and converts (or what many Muslims prefer to call reverts, that is, those who have gone back or reverted to the primordial religion, which is identified here with Islam). These include several million North Africans in France, some 3 million Turks and a sizable number of Kurds in Germany, some 2 million mostly from the Indian subcontinent in Great Britain, and smaller but nevertheless sizable populations in other European countries. In America there are both immigrants, mostly from the Arab East, Iran, and the subcontinent, and converts, primarily among African Americans but also some among whites. The spread of Islam among African Americans began with Elijah Muhammad, who created the Nation of Islam, which espouses reverse racism against whites. This movement later split into two groups and most of its members, along with other African American Muslims, soon joined the mainstream of Islam.

In this process the role of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, better known as Malcolm X, was of particular significance. There are some 25 million Muslims in Europe, some 6 million (although some have claimed other figures ranging from 5 to 7 million) in America, half a million in Canada, and perhaps over 2 million in South America. To view the spectrum of Islam globally, it is necessary to consider also these Islamic communities in the West, especially since they play such an important role as a bridge between the “Abode of Islam” (dar al-islam ), from which they come, and the West, which is their home.

These zones of Islamic culture described briefly here display a bewildering array of ethnicities, languages, forms of

art and music, and differing habitats for human life. Islam is practiced from the jungles of Borneo to the Hindu Kush mountains to the deserts of Mauritania. It includes whites, blacks, yellow-skinned people, and practically every intermediary type. Its followers have black as well as blond hair, brown as well as blue eyes. But within this remarkable diversity there reigns the unity created by Islam, a unity that can be seen in the recitation of the Quran in Arabic from east to west, in the daily prayers in the direction of Mecca, in the emulation of the single model of the Prophet, in the following of theShari‘ah , in the spiritual perfume of the Sufi orders, in the universal patterns and rhythms of Islamic art, and in many other factors. Unity in Islam has never meant uniformity and has always embraced diversity. To understand both this unity and this diversity within unity is to grasp the way in which Islam has been able to encompass so many human collectivities, to respect God-given differences and yet create a vast civilization unified and dominated by the principle of tawhid, or unity.

INTELLECTUAL AND THEOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

In addition to those variations delineating Sunnism and Shi‘ism and the numerous sects, there have existed since the beginning of Islamic history, within the mainstream, different theologies and philosophies that have contributed to diversity within the Islamic world, even within a particular school of Law. When one thinks of Islam, it is important to remember that, on the intellectual and theological levels, as well as on the juridical one, Islam is not a monolithic structure, but displays remarkable diversity, the elements of which are bound together by the doctrine of tawhid, or unity. Over the centuries, Islam has created one of the richest intellectual traditions of the world, favorably comparable in its depth and diversity to those of India, China, and the Christian West. In medieval times, in fact, many Jewish and Christian theological and philosophical schools in Europe were created as a result of the influence of and in response to Islamic philosophical and theological teachings.

To discuss in depth all the different theological and philosophical schools or even the most important ones would not be possible here. What is important in the present context is to at least mention the best-known schools and point out that even on some of the most important central religious issues-the meaning of Divine Unity especially in relation to multiplicity, the nature of God’s Names and Qualities, the relation between faith and works in human salvation, predestination and free will, revelation and reason, the relation between God’s Mercy and His Justice, and questions of eschatology, not to mention political philosophy-there have existed numerous views, sometimes opposed to each other.

In theology, which in Islam is called ‘ilm al-kalam or simply kalam, there developed in the Sunni world in the eighth century, first of all, the Mu‘tazilite school, which favored extensive use of reason in the interpretation of religious matters, a position to which certain strict literalist interpreters of the Quran and Sunnah, such as the Hanbalis, were opposed. In fact, the Hanbalis have remained opposed to all forms of kalam until today, as has their Wahhabi offshoot.

To this day the teaching of any form of kalam is forbidden in religious universities in Saudi Arabia.

In the tenth century a new school of kalam called the Ash‘arite arose in Baghdad with the aim of creating a middle ground on many questions, such as the use of reason in religious matters. Ash‘arism, which many orientalists have identified with Islamic theological orthodoxy as such, spread quickly among the Shafi‘is and reached its peak in many ways with al-Ghazzali, who did, however, hold some non-Ash‘arite views, and with Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Gradually Ash‘arism spread among the Hanafis and Malikis as well and became the most widely held school of kalam in the Sunni world until the contemporary period. But there were also other Sunni schools of kalam that held sway in certain localities, such as Maturidism in Khurasan and Central Asia and T. ahawism in Egypt. Since the late nineteenth century, certain Muslim “reformers” such as Muh.ammad ‘Abduh of Egypt have sought to revive Mu‘tazilism, because it

made greater use of reason rather than relying predominately on the tenets of the revelation.

In Shi‘ism also, kalam has had a long history. Isma‘ili kalam, which began to be developed from the eighth century onward, was closely allied to Isma‘ili philosophy and took greater interest in what in the West would be called mystical theology than Sunni schools of kalam. As for Twelve-Imam Shi‘ite kalam, it developed along more intellectual lines than Ash‘arite kalam and received its systematic formulation in the thirteenth century in the hands of Nas.ir al-Din T. usi, who was also one of the greatest philosophers, mathematicians, and astronomers of Islam. The Zaydis adopted more or less Mu‘tazilite kalam, which therefore survived in the Yemen long after it had become eclipsed by Ash‘arism after the eleventh century in the intellectual centers of the heartland of the Islamic world in the Arab East and Persia.

Islamic philosophy was developed by Islamic thinkers rooted in the Quranic revelation and meditating upon translations of Greek and Syriac texts into Arabic. The result was the integration of ideas drawn mostly from Pythagoreanism, Platonism, Aristotelianism, Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, and to some extent Stoicism into the Quranic worldview and the creation of new philosophical perspectives.

Various schools were developed, starting with the Peripatetic (mashsha’i) and Isma‘ili from the ninth century onward. This early period produced such famous philosophers as al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina(Avicenna) , and Ibn Rushd(Averroës) , whose influence on the medieval West was immense. One cannot conceive of either the Christian philosophy of the Middle Ages and such figures as Albert the Great, St. Thomas, and Duns Scotus or medieval Jewish philosophy as represented by such masters as Ibn Gabirol and Maimonides (who wrote his most famous work, The Guide of the Perplexed, first in Arabic), without consideration of the influence of early Islamic philosophy and to some extent kalam upon them.

Although the influence of Islamic philosophy upon the West came more or less to an end in the thirteenth century with the translation of Averroës and earlier Islamic philosophers into Latin, Islamic philosophy itself not only did not come to an end, but was revived in the eastern lands of Islam and especially Persia. In the twelfth century Suhrawardi founded a new school of philosophy called the School of Illumination(ishraq) and in the seventeenth century S. adr al-Din Shirazi created a major synthesis of philosophy, doctrinal Sufism or gnosis in the sense of illuminative and unitive knowledge (‘irfan), and theology in a new school he called “the transcendent theosophy” (al-h. ikmat al-muta‘aliyah). Both of these schools are still very much alive and have played a major role in the intellectual life of Persia, India, and as far as the school of ishraq is concerned, to some extent, Ottoman Turkey.

Another major school that developed in the later history of Islam is doctrinal Sufism, or gnosis, associated with, more than anyone else, the name of the thirteenth-century Andalusian Sufi Muh. yi al-Din ibn ‘Arabi, the most influential intellectual figure in Islam during the past seven centuries.

His teachings spread from Sumatra and China to Mali and Mauritania, and his school produced numerous major thinkers and poets in nearly every Islamic land.

All of these schools of kalam, philosophy, and gnosis along with the philosophy of law, methods of Quranic commentary, and the study of other transmitted sciences with which we cannot deal here, as well as various schools of the sciences from medicine to astronomy, all of which are so important for both Islam and the development of science in the West, had both their adherents and opponents, and all of them must be seen as so many strands in the total tapestry of the Islamic intellectual tradition. Although they were all concerned with either the intellectual aspects of the religion, the cosmos in light of the truths of revelation, or purely theoretical knowledge, they often also exercised either direct or indirect influence on the popular level. In any case, their diversity must be considered when studying the spectrum of Islam in its totality. Their very existence also demonstrates the remarkably open universe of intellectual discourse within the framework of the Islamic tradition, an openness that marked many periods of Islamic history yet did not lead to rebellion against the sacred framework established by Islam, as was to happen in Christianity in the West after the Middle Ages.

THE QUESTION OF ORhTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY

The question of orthodoxy in any religion is of the utmost importance, for the very word means “correctness of belief or doctrine.” If there is truth, there is also error, and if nothing is false, then there is no truth. As the Quran says, “The truth has come and falsehood has perished” (17:81).

Orthodoxy means possession of religious truth, and orthopraxy, the correct manner of practicing and reaching the truth. In the context of the totality of the Islamic tradition and in light of what has been said of the spectrum of Islam, orthodoxy and orthopraxy can be understood as the state of being on the “straight path” (al-s.irat. al-mustaqim); Islam itself is sometimes called the “religion of the straight path.”

There is no magisterium in Islam, as there is in Catholicism, to determine the correctness of doctrine, and on the level of belief and doctrine Islam has been less stringent than Catholicism in determining what is orthodox. Usually acceptance of the testifications of faith, that is, “There is no god but God” and “Muh.ammad is His Messenger,” has sufficed, even if opposition has been made to other beliefs and interpretations of a particular person or group. Like Judaism, Islam has insisted more on the importance of orthopraxy than orthodoxy. Although it has been lenient on the level of orthodoxy as long as the principle of tawhid and the messengership of the Prophet have been accepted, it has been more stringent on the level of practice of the daily prayers, fasting, pilgrimage, and so forth; in observing dietary laws such as abstention from pork and alcoholic drinks; and in following moral laws dealing with sexual relations, theft, murder, and so on.

As to what plays the role of the magisterium in Islam, the best response is the ummah, or the Islamic community itself, and for Shi‘ism the guidance of the Imam. Throughout Islamic history, the consensus of the community has decided in the long run what new interpretations of the Quran andSunnah on the level of both thought and action are permissible and what is to be rejected. But this action by the community must always remain subservient to the teachings of God’s Word and those of His Prophet. At that level any innovation (bid‘ah) has always been seen as a major sin and deviation from the “straight path,” but the strong rejection of bid‘ah in its technical religious sense has never meant opposition to adaptation and application of the immutable principles of Islam to new conditions and situations, as has happened often throughout Islamic history.

With these definitions in mind, we can now turn to the spectrum of Islam and pose the question “What constitutes orthodox Islam?” In most Western studies, orthodoxy is limited to its exoteric aspect, and when Islam is considered, the four Sunni schools of Law alone are considered orthodox.

But this appraisal is totally inadequate. There is an exoteric orthodoxy and orthopraxy and there is an esoteric orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Traditional and orthodox Sufism is not only part of Islamic orthodoxy, but is its heart and must not be seen as analogous to various mystical and occult manifestations in postmedieval Christianity that are called heterodox. Sufism is as much a part of Islamic orthodoxy as Franciscan or Dominican spirituality was part of Catholic orthodoxy in the Middle Ages.

To understand the position of Shi‘ism within the Islamic tradition, one must compare it not to Protestantism, which arose many centuries after the foundation of Christianity as a protest against Catholicism, but to Eastern Orthodoxy, which has been there from the beginning. Although Catholicism and Orthodoxy have been at odds with each other for nearly one thousand years, both belong to the totality of Christian orthodoxy. The same holds true for Sunnism and mainstream Shi‘ism of the Twelve-Imam School. One might say that in the middle of the spectrum of Islam as far as orthodoxy and heterodoxy are concerned stand Sunnism and Twelve-Imam Shi‘ism. On the side of Sunnism leaning in the direction of extremism stand the Khawarij and similar groups, and on the side of Shi‘ism after the Zaydis and moderate Isma‘ilis stand those called Shi‘ite extremists(ghulat) , including eclectic forms of Isma‘ilism and the various sects described above. Certainly on the formal and exoteric level all the four schools of Sunni Law, Twelve-Imam Shi‘ism, Zaydiism, as well as those at the two sides of the central bands of the spectrum, whether they be Isma‘ilis or ‘Ibadis, as long as they practice theShari‘ah , belong to the category of Islamic orthodoxy, as does of course all normative Sufism that bases itself on the practice of Shari‘ite injunctions. In fact, because of the centrality of orthopraxy one could say that Muslims who practice theShari‘ah belong also to Islamic orthodoxy as long as they do not flout the major doctrines of the faith such as the Prophet being the seal of prophecy, as do the Ah. madiyyah.

The use of such terms as “heterodox” and “sect” must be weighed closely in light of the nature and structure of the Islamic tradition. One should never refer to Shi‘ism as a whole as a sect, any more than one would call the Greek Orthodox Church a sect. Nor should one call Sufism heterodox, unless one is pointing to a particular figure or group which has adopted either beliefs or practices that are indeed heterodox as judged by the consensus, or ijma‘, of the mainstream community on the basis of the Quran and the Sunnah, but such a phenomenon pales into insignificance when compared with the vast reality of Sufism.

Authentic esoterism, far from being heterodox, lies at the heart of orthodoxy and orthopraxy in their most universal sense.

CULTURAL ZONES IN ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION

People often speak of Arabic, Persian, or Turkish Islam as if they were three Islams. In reality there is only one Islam, but with local coloring related to the ethnic, linguistic, and cultural traits of the different peoples who became part of the Islamic community. Wherever Islam went, it did not seek to level the existing cultural structures to the ground, but to preserve and transform them as long as they did not oppose the spirit and form of the Islamic revelation. The result was the creation of a single Islamic identity. The vast area of the “Abode of Islam” (dar al-islam ) therefore came to display remarkable diversity on the human plane while reflecting everywhere the one message of the Quran revealed through the Prophet. This cultural and ethnic diversification must therefore be added to all of the factors already mentioned to make clearer the patterns that, superimposed upon each other, have created the great diversity in unity found in Islam.

The first cultural zone in the Islamic world is the Arabic zone, which stretches from Iraq and the Persian Gulf to Mauritania and before 1492 into the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Needless to say, in contrast to what many in the West think, the Arab world is not by any means synonymous with the Islamic world. In fact, Arab Muslims constitute less than a fifth of all Muslims, being around 220 million in number, but since the Quran was revealed to the Arab Prophet of Islam and the first Islamic society was established in Arabia, the Arabic zone of the “Abode of Islam” is the oldest part of the Islamic community and remains central to it. One of the great mysteries of early Islamic history is that as the Arab armies came out of Arabia, the lands that they conquered to the north and the west became both Islamicized and Arabized. The word “Arab” is a linguistic and not an ethnic term when used in a phrase like “the Arab world.” There was also much Arab migration into this world, but what made it decisively Arab was the adoption of the Arabic language from Morocco to Iraq. Even a country with such an unparalleled ancient past as Egypt became Arab and in fact remains to this day the center of Arabic culture. In contrast, the people of the Persian Empire under the Sassanids, who were conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century, became Muslim, but they did not adopt the Arabic language. Rather, they developed Persian on the basis of earlier Iranian languages and retained a distinct cultural zone of their own. Iraq was the only exception. Although the seat of the Sassanid capital, it became Arab and in fact the center of the ‘Abbasid caliphate, but it always retained strong Persian elements.

It is interesting to compare this development with the spread of Christianity into Europe. Through becoming Christian, Europe also became to some extent a part of the Abrahamic world, but remained less Semiticized than the non-Arab Muslims who embraced Islam, because through St. Paul Christianity itself had already become less “Semitic” before spreading into Europe. That is why the Christianization of Europe was not accompanied by the spread of Aramaic or some other Semitic language in the same way that Arabic spread in the Near East and Africa and also among Persians and Indians, who belonged to the same linguistic and racial stock as the Europeans.

Not only were the Gospels written in Greek and not Aramaic, which Christ spoke, but also the Bible itself was translated early into Latin as the Vulgate and became linguistically severed from its origin. Latin became the closest in its role as the language of religion and learning in the West to what Arabic was in the Islamic world, with the major difference that Arabic is the sacred language of Islam as Hebrew is that of Judaism, whereas Latin is a liturgical language of Christianity along with several other liturgical languages such as Greek and Slavonic. The Arabization of what is now the Arab world and the significance of Arabic among non-Arab Muslims cannot therefore be equated with the Christianization of Europe and the role of Latin in the medieval West, although there are some interesting parallels to be drawn between the two worlds.

The Arabic zone, characterized by the use of Arabic as not only the language of religion, which is common to all Muslims, but also as the language of daily life, is further divided into an eastern and a western part, with the line of demarcation being in the middle of Libya. The western lands, called in classical Arabic al-Maghrib, that is, “the West,” are further divided into the “near West,” including western Libya, Tunisia, and most of Algeria, and “the far West,” including western Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and in earlier periods of Islamic history al-Andalus, or Muslim Iberia. Also within the western zone are important non-Arab groups, the most important being the Berber, who inhabit mostly the Atlas Mountains and who have their own distinct language.

The second zone of Islamic culture, whose people were the second ethnic group to embrace Islam and to participate with the Arabs in building classical Islamic civilization, is the Persian zone, consisting of present-day Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan (with certain cities in Uzbekistan).

The dominant language of the people of all these countries is Persian, known locally by three different names, Farsi, Dari, and Tajik, all of which are the same language; the differences between them are no greater than differences between the English of Australia, England, and Texas. This zone also included southern Caucasia, the old Khorasan, Transoxiana, and parts of what is today Pakistan before the migration south of Turkic people from the tenth and eleventh centuries and subsequent ethnic and geopolitical changes. The people of this zone are predominantly of the Iranian race, which is a branch of the Aryan or Indo-Iranian-European peoples, and Persian is related to the Indo-European languages as are other Iranian languages spoken in this zone, such as Kurdish, Baluchi, and Pashtu.

This zone has a population of some 100 million people, but its influence is felt strongly beyond its borders in other zones of Islamic culture in Asia from the Turkic and the Indian to the Chinese.

The first Persian to embrace Islam was Salman-i Farsi, a slave whom the Prophet caused to become free, making him a member of his “Household.” From the beginning the Persians were deeply respectful of the “Family of the Prophet” and many of the descendants of the Prophet, including the eighth Imam, ‘Ali al-Rid.a, are buried in Persia.

But it would be false to think that the Persians were always Shi‘ites and the Arabs Sunnis. Shi‘ism began among Arabs and in the tenth century

much of the Arab east was Shi‘ite, while Khorasan, a major Persian province, was the seat of Sunni thought. It is only after the establishment of the Safavids that Persia became predominantly Shi‘ite and this majority increased when Afghanistan, a part of Baluchistan, and much of Central Asia, which were predominantly Sunni, were separated from Persia, and Iran in its present form was created. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, during the Safavid period until the eighteenth century it was part of Persia. Then the leader of the Afghan tribes defeated the Safavids and killed the last Safavid king.

Shortly thereafter Nadir Shah, the last oriental conqueror, recaptured lands all the way to Delhi, including what is today Afghanistan. After his death, however, eastern Afghanistan became independent, and in the nineteenth century finally, under British pressure, Persia relinquished its claim on Herat and western Afghanistan, and thereafter Afghanistan as we now know it came into being.

The third zone of Islamic culture is that of Black Africa.

Among the entourage of the Prophet, in addition to Salman, there was another famous companion who was not Arab. He was Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi, the muezzin or caller to prayer of the Prophet, who was a Black African.

His presence symbolized the rapid spread of Islam among the Blacks and the creation of the Black African zone of Islamic culture, encompassing a vast area from the highlands of Ethiopia, where Islam spread already in the seventh century, to Mali and Senegal. The descendants of Bilal are said to have migrated to Mali, forming the Mandinka clan Keita, which helped create the Mali Empire. Some of the companions of the Prophet also migrated to Chad and established Islam there a generation after the Prophet.

Altogether Islam spread in Black Africa mostly through trade, and such tribes as the Sanhaja, who themselves embraced Islam early, became intermediaries between Arab Muslims to the north and Black Africans. By the eleventh century a powerful Islamic kingdom was established in Ghana, and by the fourteenth century the Mali Empire, which was Muslim, was one of the richest in the world; its most famous ruler, Mansa Musa, one of the most notable rulers in the whole of the Islamic world.

In East Africa, which received Islam earlier than West Africa, the process of Islamization took a different path and was influenced greatly by the migration of both Arabs and Persians into the coastal areas of West Africa. By the twelfth century a Swahili kingdom was established with its capital in Kilwa, and from the mixture of Arabic, Persian, and Bantu the new Swahili language, perhaps the most important Islamic language of Muslim Black Africa, was born.

But in contrast to the Arab and Persian worlds, where one language dominates, the Black African zone of Islamic culture consists of many subzones with very distinct languages ranging from Hausa and Fulani to Somali. Some of these languages are also spoken by Christians and are culturally signficant for African Christianity.

Although the north of the African continent was already Arab a century after the rise of Islam, the area called classically the Sudan, which included

the steppes and the grasslands from present-day Sudan to Senegal, also became to a large extent Muslim over a millennium ago. It is, however, only since the nineteenth century that Islam has begun to penetrate inland into the forest regions south of the classical Sudan. There are of course also intermediate regions between the Arabic north and Black Africa where the two zones become intermingled, such as present-day Sudan, Eritrea, and Somalia. The zone of Black African Islamic culture with a population of well over 150 million people is bewilderingly diverse and presents a remarkable panorama of ethnic and cultural diversity within the local unity of Black African culture and the universal unity of Islam itself.

The fourth zone of Islamic culture is the Turkic zone, embracing all the people who speak one of the Altaic languages, of which the most important is Turkish, but which also include Adhari(Azeri) , Chechen, Uighur, Uzbek, Kirghiz, and Turkeman. The Turkic people, who were originally nomadic, migrated south from the Altai Mountains to conquer Central Asia from the Persians, changing its ethnic nature but remaining culturally very close to the Persian world. By the time they had entered the Persia of that historical period, they had already embraced Islam and in fact became its great champions. Not only did they defeat local Persian rulers such as the Samanids, but they soon pushed westward toward Anatolia, defeating the Byzantine army at the Battle of Manzikert (Malazgirt in Turkish) in 1071. This was one of the pivotal battles of Islamic history. It opened the Anatolian pasturelands to the Turkic nomads and led to the Turkification of Anatolia, the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, and finally to the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The Turks were powerful militarily and ruled over many Muslim lands, including Persia and Egypt, and their role in later Islamic history can hardly be exaggerated. Today the Turkic peoples, composed of more than 150 million people, are spread from Macedonia to Siberia and all the way to Vladivostok and are geographically the most widespread ethnic and cultural group within the Islamic world. There are notable Turkic groups also within other areas that are not majority Turkic, including Persia, Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Russia, which has important Turkic minorities who are remnants of people conquered during the expansion of the Russian Empire under the czars.

The fifth major zone of Islamic culture is that of the Indian subcontinent. Already in the first decade of the eighth century, the army of Muh.ammad ibn Qasim had conquered Sindh, and thus began the penetration of Islam into the subcontinent during the next few centuries, but Islam spread throughout India mostly through Sufi orders.

There were also invasions by various Turkic rulers into India, and from the eleventh century onward and until the British colonization of India Muslim rulers dominated over much of India, especially the north, where the Moghuls established a major empire in the sixteenth century. Indian Islam is ethnically mostly homogeneous, with some Persian and Turkic elements added to the local Indian population, but it is culturally and linguistically very diverse. For nearly a thousand years the intellectual and literary language of Indian Muslims was Persian, but several local languages, such as Sindhi, Gujrati, Punjabi, and Bengali, also gained some

prominence as Islamic languages. Gradually, from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a new language was born of the wedding of the Indian languages and Persian with Turkic elements added and became known as Urdu.

Written in the Arabic-Persian script, Urdu became, like Swahili, Ottoman Turkish, and several other Islamic languages, a major language of Islamic discourse and was later adopted as the official language of Pakistan. The Indian zone of Islamic culture includes Pakistan, Bangladesh, Muslims of India and Nepal, and the deeply rooted Islamic community of Sri Lanka. There are some 400 million Muslims in this region, more than in any other. The reason for this vast population is the rapid rise of the general population in all of India since the nineteenth century, including both Hindus and Muslims, and the fact that more than one-fourth of Indians had embraced Islam, which was able to provide providentially a path of salvation for those who could no longer function within the world of traditional Hinduism. They have created some of the greatest works of Islamic art and culture, and although ruled often by Turkic dynasties, they have been very close in cultural matters to the Persian world until modern times.

The sixth zone of Islamic culture embraces the Malay world in Southeast Asia. Islamicized by Arab traders from the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea and also by merchants and Sufis from India from the thirteenth century onward, Malay Islam displays again much ethnic homogeneity and possesses local traits all its own. Influenced deeply from the beginning by Sufism, which played a major role in the spread of Islam into that world, Malay Islam has usually reflected a mild and gentle aspect also in conformity with the predominant ethnic characteristics of the people. Dominated by Malay and Javanese languages, Malay Islam embraces Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and sizable minorities in Thailand as well as the Philippines and smaller minorities in Cambodia and Vietnam. Altogether there are over 220 million Muslims in this zone, and although this part of the Islamic world is a relative newcomer to the “Abode of Islam,” its adherents are known for their close attachment to Mecca and Medina and love for the Prophetic traditions.

As is the case with Africa and India, Malay Islam is highly influenced and colored operatively and intellectually by Sufism.

Besides these six major zones of Islamic culture, a few smaller ones must also be mentioned. One is Chinese Islam, whose origin goes back to the seventh century, when soon after the advent of Islam Muslim merchants settled in Chinese ports such as Canton. There has been a continuous presence of Islam in China since that time, but mostly in Sinkiang, which Muslim geographers call Eastern Turkistan.

The Islamic population of China includes both people of Turkic origin, such as the Uigurs, and native Chinese called Hui. Even among the Hans there are some Muslims. The number of Muslims in China remains a great mystery and figures from 25 to 100 million have been mentioned. There is a distinct Chinese Islamic architecture and calligraphy as well as a whole intellectual tradition closely allied to Persian Sufism. The Islamic

intellectual tradition in China began to express itself in classical Chinese rather than Persian and Arabic only from the seventeenth century onward.

Then there are the European Muslims-not Turkish enclaves found in Bulgaria, Greece, and Macedonia, but European ethnic groups-that have been Muslims for half a millennium. The most important among these groups are the Albanians, found throughout Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia, and Bosnians, found mostly in Bosnia but to some extent also in Croatia and Serbia. These groups are ethnically of European stock, and the understanding of their culture is important for a better comprehension of both the spectrum of Islam in its totality and the rapport between Islam and the West in today’s Europe.

Finally, there are the new Islamic communities in Europe and America, including both immigrants and converts (or what many Muslims prefer to call reverts, that is, those who have gone back or reverted to the primordial religion, which is identified here with Islam). These include several million North Africans in France, some 3 million Turks and a sizable number of Kurds in Germany, some 2 million mostly from the Indian subcontinent in Great Britain, and smaller but nevertheless sizable populations in other European countries. In America there are both immigrants, mostly from the Arab East, Iran, and the subcontinent, and converts, primarily among African Americans but also some among whites. The spread of Islam among African Americans began with Elijah Muhammad, who created the Nation of Islam, which espouses reverse racism against whites. This movement later split into two groups and most of its members, along with other African American Muslims, soon joined the mainstream of Islam.

In this process the role of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, better known as Malcolm X, was of particular significance. There are some 25 million Muslims in Europe, some 6 million (although some have claimed other figures ranging from 5 to 7 million) in America, half a million in Canada, and perhaps over 2 million in South America. To view the spectrum of Islam globally, it is necessary to consider also these Islamic communities in the West, especially since they play such an important role as a bridge between the “Abode of Islam” (dar al-islam ), from which they come, and the West, which is their home.

These zones of Islamic culture described briefly here display a bewildering array of ethnicities, languages, forms of

art and music, and differing habitats for human life. Islam is practiced from the jungles of Borneo to the Hindu Kush mountains to the deserts of Mauritania. It includes whites, blacks, yellow-skinned people, and practically every intermediary type. Its followers have black as well as blond hair, brown as well as blue eyes. But within this remarkable diversity there reigns the unity created by Islam, a unity that can be seen in the recitation of the Quran in Arabic from east to west, in the daily prayers in the direction of Mecca, in the emulation of the single model of the Prophet, in the following of theShari‘ah , in the spiritual perfume of the Sufi orders, in the universal patterns and rhythms of Islamic art, and in many other factors. Unity in Islam has never meant uniformity and has always embraced diversity. To understand both this unity and this diversity within unity is to grasp the way in which Islam has been able to encompass so many human collectivities, to respect God-given differences and yet create a vast civilization unified and dominated by the principle of tawhid, or unity.