Evaluating unity, mysticism and Islamic punishment

Overview

Argued for describing Islam as a divided religion, argued against treating Shi'a Islam as a separate religion and argued against the validity of Sufi devotional practices.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Give the case that Islam is a united religion.

   Model answer

   All Muslims share the shahadah, the same Qur'an, the direction of prayer, the fast of Ramadan and the Hajj, where every school and sect performs the same rites together, and the great majority of Islamic law and belief is agreed across the divisions.

2. 2

   What is argued for describing Islam as a divided religion?

   Model answer

   The split over the succession has never healed, Sunni and Shi'a differ over authority, law and history, the four Sunni schools disagree among themselves, Salafi and Sufi traditions condemn each other's practices, and sectarian conflict has cost many lives in living memory.

3. 3

   How might a Muslim answer the charge that Islam is fatally divided?

   Model answer

   They can argue that difference of opinion has long been described as a mercy, that the divisions concern law, history and devotion rather than the core of belief in one God and His final messenger, and that every large religion contains comparable variety.

4. 4

   Present the case that Shi'a Islam is a distinct form of the religion.

   Model answer

   It has its own doctrine of divinely appointed and sinless Imams, its own hadith collections and school of law, its own clerical hierarchy funded by khums, additional obligations, distinctive prayer and pilgrimage practice, and an annual mourning that no Sunni community observes.

5. 5

   What is argued against treating Shi'a Islam as a separate religion?

   Model answer

   Shi'a Muslims affirm the same God, the same Qur'an and the same Prophet, keep the same prayers, fast and Hajj, and their differences concern who inherited authority and how law is derived, which are matters of interpretation rather than of creed.

6. 6

   Give the case that a personal mystical union with God is possible in Islam.

   Model answer

   The Qur'an says God is nearer than the jugular vein, a well-known report has God saying that He becomes the hearing and sight of a servant who draws near through voluntary devotion, and centuries of Sufis have described states of annihilation of the self in God.

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