A Brief Guide To the Study of Islam: Anthropology and Soteriology

I. Forward

This brief paper is part of an overall introduction to Islamic beliefs. I have tried to indicate both relevant verses of the Quran, and technical terms, so that the interested reader can pursue further research on his or her own. A bibliography at the end indicates some of the English language works which will give a greater insight into these areas of Islamic belief.

Readers wishing to do further research should note that Arabic has been romanized in different ways in this century, and that some texts and reference works are keyed to the Persian or even Urdu equivalents of Arabic terms. Leaving aside the most extreme variations it should be noted that words in this paper beginning with "j" is often found with "dj", and that "q" is often rendered "k", and visa versa. Thusqadar may be found askadar , andJinn asDjinn. Names, such as Ash'ari, are sometimes written with "al" as a prefix, thusAl Ash'ari. Translations of the Quran (Koran ) sometimes have variations in the numbering of the chapters and verses. Normally if the verse being sought isn't found one should check the same verse, and its immediate neighbors, in the previous and subsequent chapter.

In this paper I have referred to God as God, whether in a Islamic or Christian context. The usual Islamic word for God, Allah, is used only when necessary to clearly distinguish a Muslim usage. As is always the case with translation a certain controversy surrounds the use of these terms. There are those who maintain that the English word "God" has theological overtones from Christian culture which do not make it an appropriate translation for the word "Allah". However, numerous English works by Muslim authors freely use God as the equivalent for Allah, and I have followed this pattern.