OPVL 3 and source notes

Aslan, Reza. No God but God. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006.

Origin:

Purpose: The purpose of this book is to share the story of Islam based on the memories of the first generation of Muslims. This book is also meant to argue for a Muslim reformation.

Value:

Limitations: The author wrote a note about translations at the beginning of the book. The author attempted to make all translations from Arabic into English in their most simple, understandable form however there is always the possibility of meaning being lost in translation.

· Prologue pg. XXV “Religion, it must be understood, is not faith. Religion is the story of faith. It is an institutionalized system of symbols and metaphors (read rituals and myths) that provides a common language with which a community of faith can share with each other their numinous encounter with the Divine Presence.”

· 144- Muslim theologians, the Ulama, were concerned about the specific ways to express faith through ritual and thus came up with the five pillars.

· 145-The pillars are intended to be “a totality of actions which are not merely verbal and bodily but, above all, mental and moral, performed according to certain conditions of conscious intention, of external and internal purity, presence of mind, humility and submissiveness of heart, creating within the soul of the believer a real life of religious devotion and spirituality.”

· 146- Two kinds of prayer: du’a informal, individual communication with God and Salat ritualized obligatory prayer performed five times a day

· 146- Salat is comprised of a series of yogic movements like standing, bowing, rising, sitting, turning east and west, and falling prostrate accompanied by specific verses from the quran.

· 146- Salat can only begin after the intention to pray is voiced, and the muslim must face towards mecca (qiblah)

· Salat can be performed individually to cleanse and purify the soul

· Salat is meant to be a communal act that binds the Ummah as a single body.

· The noon prayer on Fridays must be performed in the mosque, in the presence of the community.