The foundation Texts of Islam

Question: Select three of the assigned weekly readings and for each reading write a 500 word reflective response. Mere summary of the reading will not receive a good mark. You are expected to discuss issues raised in the reading . If you feel it is appropriate you may also decide to critique(appraise) the reading. if you do so, please stick to the quality of the arguments and evidence offered by the author rather than addressing the writing style. your focus must be on the reading you have chosen to respond to, but in order to deliver a high quality response you are advised to read around the subject dealt with, starting with the other readings linked to the week, both assigned and additional. Answer: The author in his book The Basic Beliefs and Worship Practices of Islam has introduced the Islamic religious civilization and tradition as emerged in the Arabian Peninsula and the surrounding region (Denny 2015). According to him, Allah is the same as Lord Jesus whom the Christians worship. He also illustrated that the word Islam in Arabic means to surrender to the teachings and practices being preached by God. According to the author, the Muslims believe the Quran to be the Recitation which should be recited during the prayers as an act of worship. The Quran is considered to be superior. The author, in his book, has also illustrated about the Five Pillars of Islam viz., (i) the Shahada, (ii) the Salat, (iii) Zakat, (iv) Sawm and (v) the Hajj (Denny 2015). The Shahada is the bearing witness that depicts that Muhammad is the messenger of God. The Salat is the worshipping service which involves five times daily in there morning, noon, afternoon, sunset and evening. The Zakat is the leg al almsgiving annually from the certain portions of wealth of an individual for the sake of the benefits and welfare of the needy. The Sawm is the fasting during the pious month of Ramadan and the Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca. The author thus, has illustrated on the faith that the Islam follows and has been followed by the people since the rise of the civilizations. The author has been able to illustrate on the faith and beliefs of the different religions on the God especially the Muslims, Jews and Christians who follow the sayings of their respective Messengers of God. All the three religions recognize themselves to be a part of the shared heritage being dated back to the rise of the civilizations. The author has been also able to illustrate on the basic teachings of the Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The author has also lustrated about the prophets and the sacred texts of the different civilizations including the Christians, Jewish, and Egyptians (Denny 2015). The sacred book of Islam is the Quran. Muslims consider prayers to be the act of worship. According to the author, the recitation refers to the fact that Muslims procure verses of the Quran during the prayers as an act of worship (Denny 2015).. Though, the origin of the Quran is the Word of God, the Quran reflects on the Word of God, I personally believe that the sacred texts of Islam viz., the Quran illustrate the values, beliefs and practices. The Quran, as revealed by Muhammad, is believed to be the literal word of God himself (Abdul-Raof 2013). It is the tradition of a specific faith including the Islam which helps in defining the traditions and the role of their members as well. The legal professional helps in constituting the institutions. Now, if the members of these institutions are taking advantage of the role of the institutions for their personal utilization, the corruption is known as institutional corruption and should be prohibited by the law. The foundation texts of Islam- Quran and hadith The author in his book The Qur'an: the primary foundation text", "The Sunna of the Prophet has opined the Quran to be the foundation text for the Muslims (Saeed 2006). The author in his book has tried to differentiate between the Quran and the hadith. The author cited the Quran to be the speech of God and hadith to be the deeds and sayings of the Prophet. The author is of the belief that the Quran helps in the spread of literacy and providing an equal opportunity for all the Muslims to aim at understanding the worker of the God even if they are not familiar with Arabic (Saeed 2006). I believe that the Quran incorporates the rules and values in the light of the social and historical context of the time of relegation which helps in bringing each and every Islamic follower to gain respectable level of equality. God has been able to indicate his Words by the Quran and publicly recited in another style called hadith. According to the principles of jurisprudence, the relegations can be com prised if the recited and unrequited revelation (Brown 2013). Muslims consider prayers to be the act of worship. According to the author, the recitation refers to the fact that Muslims procure verses of the Quran during the prayers as an act of worship. On the other hand, hadith arte not considered to be the Word of God (Brown 2013). It is however, considered as the saying and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad. Both the Quran and hadith are in theory where the Quran is considered to be superior. In Islamic law, both the Quran and hadith enjoy equal; authority in the ethic-legal matters. Though, the origin of the both hadith and Quran is the Word of God, the Quran reflects on the Word of God while the hadith reflects on His deeds. I personally believe that the sacred texts of Islam, Quran and hadith, however both illustrate the values, beliefs and practices. Quran is regarded as the most sacred text while the hadith is the secondary text. The Quran, as revealed by Muhammad, is believed to be the literal word of God himself (Brown 2013). I believe Qu ran to be the Bible of Islam as it is the most sacred and primary book of Islam. The Quran can be comprised of the Surahs or chapters which consist of the various verses and translations of God himself (Saeed 2006). Hadith, on the other hand, is the textual records of the sayings of Muhammad and his followers. Most of the crucial records of the various Islamic traditions are being incorporated in the hadith. In addition, much of the Islamic belief and practices comes from the literature form hadith. Each hadith can be comprised of two parts including the matn and the isnad (Hmeidi et al 2014). The isnad is present at the beginning of any hadith which is the chain of transmission. The other part of the hadith is the text records that are the actual text called the man which depicts the deeds of Muhammad. Islamic Law The author in his book, An Islamic Legal Tradition: The Law of Later Revelation has illustrated on the legal traditions that have been one of the main functions of identifying and eliminating the crime and criminal traditions (Vikr 2005). The author is of the belief that it is not simple to identify a program and it is difficult owing to the indifference between the larger traditions of right or good and the criminal traditions. The larger traditions are generally destroyed by the crime or corruption. The author has also classified the other forms of corruption including the intellectual or institutional corruption which he regards not to be criminal offense but may be considered to be destructive of tradition especially in Islamic law (Vikr 2005). I believe corruption to be the most pecuniary of the various factors responsible for destroying the traditions. Most of the countries are dealing with the corruption issues which have becoming widespread such that it becomes impossible to control the institutions which are themselves affected by the crime. In some of the countries, the law enforcement agencies and their positions are being sold where the purchasers are getting profitable reasons for the purchase and they usually pay higher prices for the same (Vikr 2005). Thus, it can be evident that the complex formats of the social; organizations may incorporate the greater opportunities for the pecuniary corruption. I personally believe the pecuniary corruption to be there form of an unjustified redistribution of the materials resources of the society which represents the secretive form of the inequality in Islamic. This corruption is responsible for the damages to the effectiveness and credibility of the traditions. Thus, it becomes very important to identify the traditions which are more vulnerable to the corruptions. I feel that most of the forms of the unjustified and illegal materials do not contribute to any crime. In this case, the institutions play a significant role between the accumulated tradition and the individuals. It is the tradition of a specific faith including the Islam which helps in defining the traditions and the role of their members as well (Glenn 2014). The legal professional helps in constituting the institutions. Now, if the members of these institutions are taking advantage of the role of the institutions for their personal utilization, the corruption is known as insti tutional corruption and should be prohibited by the law. To me, tradition helps in teaching the love and devotion towards God. It also helps in rejecting the institutions by declaring it incompatible with the institutional corruptions. The tradition also helps in encouraging the construction of the elites and institutions that could help in developing a second order means of control. It also helps in developing the ethics of the elite and institutional life by supervising the primary institutions (Glenn 2014). Thus, the tradition is a fragile thing which is in the form of received information which bears the seeds of change and diversity to eradicate the corruptions. References Abdul-Raof, H., 2013. Qur'an translation: Discourse, texture and exegesis. Routledge. Brown, J., 2013. Scripture in the modern Muslim world: the Quran and Hadith. Islam in the Modern World. Denny, F., 2015. Introduction to Islam. Routledge. Glenn, H.P., 2014. Legal traditions of the world: Sustainable diversity in law. Oxford University Press (UK). Hmeidi, I., Shehadeh, H.A., Almodawar, A.A. and Daraghmeh, M.M., 2014. Comprehensive Study on Information Retrieval: Arabic Document Indexing. Research Journal of Science and Technology, 6(2), p.79. Saeed, A., 2006. Islamic thought: An introduction. Routledge. Vikr, K.S., 2005. Between God and the Sultan: a history of Islamic law. Oxford University Press, USA.