Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

H i s to r i cal Introduction and Overv i e w 5roles of religious prophet and political leader, judging cases through a combinationof a charismatic sense of divine guidance and an astute recognition ofthe needs and conditions of the society in which he lived.The Five Pillars of IslamMany writers, both Muslim and non-Muslim, discuss the foundational religiousduties established by Islam in terms of “Five Pillars.” However, in a recent essay,Ahmet Karamustafa has called into question the accuracy and usefulness ofthis standard model of defining Islam. In an attempt to move beyond staticand essentializing formulations of Islam, he argues thatthere is utility in this formulaic definition, but only if it is embedded within a civilizationalframework and used with care and caution. Islam d o e s revolve aroundcertain key ideas and practices, but it is imperative to catch the dynamic spirit inwhich these core ideas and practices are constantly negotiated by Muslims inconcrete historical circumstances and not to reify them into a rigid formula thatis at once ahistorical and idealistic. (Karamustafa 2003, 108)This warning is important and useful and should be kept in mind as one readsboth this historical introduction and the contextualized studies of local Muslimcommunities in the era of globalization in the chapters that follow.The first of the Five Pillars is s h a h a d a , or “witnessing” to the faith. The s h a-h a d a is more than simply a statement of belief; it also marks communal identificationthrough a ritualized speech act. The text of the s h a h a d a , spoken withproper intention, determines one’s position as a member of the Muslim commu n i t y. One becomes a Muslim simply by pronouncing, with the proper intention,the words of an Arabic formula that translates as “There is no god butGod, and Muhammad is his messenger.” Conversion to Islam is thus rathere a s y, requiring neither elaborate rituals nor any formal institutional acknowledgment.But this “simple” act of embracing Islam implies an open-ended entry into ongoing processes of Islamization that lead to the other rights and responsibilitiesoutlined in the remaining four “pillars” and in their extensiveelaborations in the development of Islamic law over the past fourteen centuries.In the brief overview that follows, the remaining four pillars are discussedin general terms, sometimes with illustrative examples from a variety ofcultural settings. However, these discussions are not intended as tests for determining“how Islamic” a given person or society is. Rather, they are intendedonly as an introduction to some of the areas of doctrine and practice in whichMuslims have come to both define and debate the tradition in discussionsamong themselves and with others.