Islamic Doctrines and Theology: The past and modern assessment

This book presents Islamic doctrines and theology in three major areas. The first is the Shari'ah as a body of law which Allah prescribed for his servants through Prophet Muhammad. The expression Shari'ah in this sense is synonymous with the expression fiqh in the sense used by the scholars in the beginning. Fiqh in this sense is absolutely the knowledge of rules of the Shari'ah, or it is these rules themselves. Obviously, the word fiqh was used in the early days in a comprehensive way to include the tenets of Islam, its ethics, Islamic law, and the questions relating to the spiritual aspects of things for which the term 'tasawwuf' subsequently came into use. This second part concerns the traditional Islamic conceptions of 'Aqidah, no matter by what name it is called in the West. Any religious belief system, or creed, can be considered an example of ¿aqi¿dah. However, this term has taken a significant technical usage in Islamic history and theology, denoting those matters over which Muslims hold conviction. The book presents the five pillars of Islam.