No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam

After Muhammad’s death, Muslims collected “traditions” (hadith) of what Muhammad said or did and viewed these as authoritative for resolving religious questions. Reza Aslan argues that the hadith are often inaccurate, that their authority stifles the creativity of the early Ulama, and that many were invented to legitimize later inequalities. His Islamic Reformation can only progress by evaluating the hadith critically.

Ijtihad is a term in Islamic legal jurisprudence for determining new principles based solely on one’s own reasoning rather than starting with an authority (such as the Quran or hadith). Aslan argues that ijtihad’s gradual restriction by clerical institutions is one of the major problems hindering Islam’s development.

Islamism is a modern political movement that seeks to create a state based on Islam. Proponents of Islamism have a wide range of ideals, and many of them are not Islamic fundamentalists.

Jihad is an Arabic term for a Muslim’s struggle on behalf of his or her faith. This can be an interior struggle against sin (called “greater jihad” in one hadith) or an exterior struggle that might include violence. Aslan argues that Muhammad’s original idea of jihad in warfare should be understood as a parallel to Western “just war theory” that limits fighting to defensive aims and forbids harming noncombatants. By this definition, the later “classical” Islamic theory of jihad as a state of constant warfare in the land of unbelievers is a perversion of the term’s true meaning, as are other contemporary notions of it as “holy war” or as justifying terrorism.

Muslims believe that the Quran, their poetic holy book of scripture, is God’s direct self-revelation given to Muhammad over time and recited by him. Traditionalists see the Quran as an uncreated part of God existing eternally. Aslan instead places the Quran in a historical context, arguing that it developed during Muhammad’s lifetime and was codified 20 years later by Caliph Umar.

Shi’a literally means the “Party of Ali” and represents those Muslims who believed Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali was his legitimate heir to leadership. It evolved into a major branch of Islam after the death of Ali and his sons (most commonly practiced in Iraq and Aslan’s native Iran); it is distinctive in its ideals of self-sacrifice, its understanding of religious authority regarding the Ulama, and the belief in a hidden Imam who will return as the Madhi to establish God’s kingdom of justice.

Sufism is a prominent mystical strand of Islam focusing on interior piety over exterior actions. Sufis adopt a life of simplicity, self-denial, and prayer to cleanse themselves of their ego and attain union with God based in love.

Sunnis comprise the large majority branch of Islam. They look to the consensus of the Ulama as the highest religious authority.

Literally meaning the “learned ones,” the Ulama is the loose collection of religious experts who guide the Muslim community. Their distillation of the Quran and hadith into practical rules and laws is called Shariah. Aslan argues that the dominance of a Traditionalist Ulama since the 11th century has squelched innovation in Islam and denied ordinary Muslim people the chance to apply Muhammad’s true teaching.